Martin Hoffmann, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany
In recent times mass spectrometry detection was established as label-free alternative for the detection of substrates and products in enzyme reaction, which were run in high throughput screening. Advances in hardware improvements for MALDI-TOF in terms of automation and measuring time made it now possible to integrate the mass spectrometer as a read-out detection method in high throughput screening.
The challenges of MALDI-TOF for high throughput screening are the adaption of the enzymatic assay, which usually contains high concentrations of buffer and salt components, to a MS-friendly environment. Additionally, the choice of the matrix, the matrix solvent mix and the way of matrix-sample deposition have great influence to the results. This presentation will give insights into the MALDI MS screening workflow at Merck and will discuss case studies of screening applications.
