"Rapid Screening of Biomarkers using a novel Differential Mobility / Mass Spectrometry Interface"

Mass spectrometry (MS) has long been used as an instrument to detect low levels of DNA adducts. The most common MS methods require DNA digestion, followed by protein precipitation and multiple chromatographic separations. This approach requires a great deal of time, resources and may suffer from analyte loss during sample preparation.

Differential Mobility Spectrometry (DMS) has proven useful in separating gaseous ions. Traditionally, ions are separated by varying compensation voltages and are detected by striking a Faraday plate.

This study utilizes a modified Sionex MicroDMX unit that allows transmission of ions from the DMS to a single quadrupole mass spectrometer. This removes the need for chromatography prior to MS which allows for high throughput.