Multiplex Mass-Spectrometry Imaging for Cancer research

When adding more than three or four fluorophores to a microscopy sample, their exciting wavelength ranges will start to overlap, making it impossible to separate signals coming from each fluorophore. This spectral overlap limits the potential of traditional microscopy to give a comprehensive view of the biological sample. Few techniques have by-passed this limit, like Mass-Spectrometry Imaging that is using metal beads attached to antibodys to “image” up to 50 proteins at a time. A powerful laser burns a small piece of the sample (1 squared micrometer) and the volatile metal beads are recognized with a mass-spectrometer. Mass-spectrometry imaging is a very promising imaging technique to analyse the spatial organization of a tissue while having access to an unprecented number of proteins.