Publications Details
Detection of Biological Materials Using Ion Mobility Spectroscopy
Traditionally, Ion Mobility Spectroscopy has been used to examine ions of relatively low molecular weight and high ion mobility. In recent years, however, biomolecules such as bradykinin, cytochrome c, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), apomyoglobin, and lysozyme, have been successfully analyzed, but studies of whole bio-organisms have not been performed. In this study an attempt was made to detect and measure the mobility of two bacteriophages, {lambda}-phage and MS2 using electrospray methods to inject the viruses into the ion mobility spectrometer. Using data from Yeh, et al., which makes a comparison between the diameter of non-biologic particles and the specific particle mobility, the particle mobility for the MS2 virus was estimated to be 10{sup {minus}2} cm{sup 2}/volt-sec. From this mobility the drift time of these particles in our spectrometer was calculated to be approximately 65 msec. The particle mobility for the {lambda}-phage virus was estimated to be 10{sup {minus}3} cm{sup 2}/volt-sec. which would result in a drift time of 0.7 sec. Spectra showing the presence of a viral peak at the expected drift time were not observed. However, changes in the reactant ion peak that could be directly attributed to the presence of the viruses were observed. Virus clustering, excessive collisions, and the electrospray injection method limited the performance of this IMS. However, we believe that an instrument specifically designed to analyze such bioagents and utilizing other injection and ionization methods will succeed in directly detecting viruses and bacteria.