Arrayed Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry for Time-Critical Detection of Hazardous Agents

The design and operation of an arrayed time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer for simultaneous data acquisition from multiple samples is described. Versions of the instrument employ sets of two or four linear or reflectron mass analyzers. They are housed in the same vacuum chamber and utilize the same laser for ion desorption. Instrument performance is illustrated in the example of a two-linear-mass-analyzer array using MALDI-MS for mixtures of commercially available proteins as well as intact microorganisms. We also describe the properties of a novel short delay time (