Mass Spectrometry Instrumentation in Proteomics

Mass spectrometry has evolved into a crucial technology for the field of proteomics, enabling the comprehensive study of proteins in biological systems. Innovative developments have yielded flexible and versatile mass spectrometric tools, including quadrupole time-of-flight, linear ion trap, Orbitrap and ion mobility instruments. Together they offer various and complementary capabilities in terms of ionization, sensitivity, speed, resolution, mass accuracy, dynamic range and methods of fragmentation. Mass spectrometers can acquire qualitative and quantitative information on a large scale to study protein expression, protein interactions and modifications, in complexes, organelles, cells and tissues. The currently available technological platforms and approaches offer a wide selection for proteomics experiments from low to high throughput, from shotgun discovery to targeted validation. In terms of desired outcome, cost and time, combining and choosing between available instrumentation and methodologies is key to find the best analytical strategy suiting a particular proteomics experiment.