Sample Preparation Free Consumables for Ultra-Sensitive Chemical and Biological Detection from Complex Environmental and Clinical Matrices Compatible for Paper Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Paper Spray mass spectrometry (PSMS) has been developed and commercialized for analysis of fluid samples by mass spectrometry. PSMS provides advantages over existing analysis techniques by reducing sample preparation needs and incorporating the sample storage and sample introduction to a single consumable device that is disposed after analysis, thus eliminating cross contamination and/or cleaning requirements for the spray needle. The objective of this proposal is to develop and commercialize consumables for capture of aerosols and for enrichment of molecules prior to analysis by PSMS. The aerosol consumable will expand the capability of PSMS by enabling analysis of aerosol/vapor sample types with PSMS. The molecule enrichment consumable will expand the limit of detection for samples with low concentration. By incorporating a solid phase extraction (SPE) filter into the consumable, larger volumes of low concentration samples can be concentrated for lower limits of detection while maintaining the current benefits of PSMS.