MS pipeline for biologically active substances developed

A mass spectrometry (MS) pipeline designed to facilitate the analysis of biologically active substances has been developed by scientists.

The team from the UK Health Protection Agency worked to create the first coherent pipeline for the process, with their findings published in the latest issue of BMC Bioinformatics.

While MS has been indicated as a suitable way to discover novel biomarkers in the past, the scientists argue that no cohesive procedure has been in place for doing so.

Now they have devised a four-stage approach, beginning with a sample preparation phase.

The MS analysis itself forms the second part of the process, while in the third phase databases are searched using the outcomes of the spectrometry.

Finally, the appropriate biomarkers are validated, a stage the researchers say is "vital for discovery of robust biomarkers".

BMC Bioinformatics is peer-reviewed and published online with open access, covering topics such as statistical and computational methods for analysing biologically active substances.