From large analogical instruments to small digital black boxes: 40 years of progress in mass spectrometry and its role in proteomics. Part II 1985-2000

Abstract

This is the continuation of a personal retrospective on the developments that since 1965 have given shape to Mass Spectrometry (MS) and taken it from a position of simply playing a role in Protein Chemistry to becoming an indispensable tool in Proteomics, all within a 40-year span. Part I covered the period from 1965 to 1984. This second part reviews the Mass Spectrometry timeline of events from 1985 to 2000, stopping at various time points where MS made significant contributions to protein chemistry or where the development of new instrumentation for MS represented a major advance for peptide and protein work. Major highlights in the field and their significance for peptide and protein characterization such as the advent and practical consequences of electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) are covered, including work done with triple quads, the development of time-of-flight (TOF) instruments and new ion traps and going on to the more recent work on the full characterization of the Proteome with ion traps, TOF instruments and new ionization and tagging techniques for protein sequencing.