Identification of micro-organisms using superconducting tunnel junctions and time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Conference · Mon Aug 30 00:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:14671

Benner, W H; Frank, M; Horn, J M; Labov, S E; Langry, K; Ullom, J

We present time-of-flight measurements of biological material ejected from complete bacterial spores following laser irradiation. Ion impacts are registered on a microchannel plate and on a Superconducting Tunnel Junction (STJ) detector. We compare mass spectra obtained with the two detectors. The STJ has better sensitivity to massive ions and also measures the energy of each ion. We show evidence that spores of different bacillus species produce distinctive mass spectra and associate the observed mass peaks with coat proteins identified through ion-exchange extraction and gel electrophoresis.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 14671
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-134432; YN0100000; YN0100000; TRN: AH200129%%378
• Resource Relation: Conference: Eighth International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors LTD-8, Dalfsen (NL), 08/15/1999--08/20/1999; Other Information: PBD: 30 Aug 1999
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
BACILLUS
BACTERIAL SPORES
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
ELECTROPHORESIS
ION EXCHANGE
IRRADIATION
LASER RADIATION
MASS SPECTRA
PROTEINS
SENSITIVITY
TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETERS
SUPERCONDUCTING JUNCTIONS