US Patent No. 6,714,925. System for identifying patterns in biological data using a distributed network. Inventors: Stephen Barnhill, Isabelle Guyon, Jason Weston. Assignee: Barnhill Technologies.
Covers a system for dealing with large amounts of data such as that resulting from proteomics experiments, using a learning machine and support vector machine. The customer transmits training data, test data, and live data from a vendor’s server via a distributed network, and the data is stored in a storage device. The training data is pre-processed by transforming and expanding the data points, and the live data is pre-processed and inputted into the trained and tested learning machine. The live output from that machine is then post-processed into an alphanumerical classifier for human or automated interpretation.
US Patent No. 6,710,334. Quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer with cryogenic particle detector. Inventor: Damian Twerenbold. Assignee: GenSpec.
Covers a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer that uses cryogenic particle detectors as the molecule detectors. The cryogenic particle detectors allow for improved sensitivity due to a mass independent detection efficiency, which eliminates the problem common to quadrupole ion traps whereby molecules with higher mass show a decreased detection efficiency.
US Patent No. 6,707,040. Ionization apparatus and method for mass spectrometer system. Inventors: Alexander Makarov, Pavel Bondarenko. Assignee: Thermo Finnigan.
Covers an ionization device for a mass spectrometer that consists of a sample slide with at least two channels with samples deposited on the inner surface, in addition to an energy delivery system such as a laser that can release and ionize the sample to form ions, and an interface for collecting the ions.
US Patent No. 6,707,033. Mass Spectrometer. Inventors: Akihiko Okumura, Izumi Waki. Assignee: Hitachi-High Technologies.
Covers a quadrupole ion trap TOF mass spectrometer whereby ions are accumulated in a low vacuum chamber in the trap, then are ejected into a high vacuum chamber and accelerated in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of ions, and time of flight is measured. The ions are detected and ion introduction time in the next turn is determined on the basis of the obtained total ion content in the previous run, according to a preset threshold value.
US Patent No. 6,707,036. Ionization apparatus and method for mass spectrometer system. Inventors: Alexander Makarov, Pavel Bondarenko. Assignee: Thermo Finnigan.
Covers an ionization device for a mass spectrometer consisting of a sample slide with at least two sample spots, means for ionizing the analytes contained in the spots, and an interface connecting the sample spots to the mass spec. The interface is composed of a chamber with an orifice in close proximity to one of the sample spots and an ion guide leading to the mass spec in a second region. A pressure lower than atmospheric pressure is kept within the region where the ions are being captured, while other sample spots are maintained at atmospheric pressure.
US Patent No. 6,706,529. Methods for sequencing proteins. Inventors: Luke Schneider, Michael Hall, Jeffrey Peterson. Assignee: Target Discovery.
Covers a method for protein sequencing using mass spectrometry whereby the sequence is identified by using the sequence of some of the residues at the two termini of a full-length protein and searching predicted sequences from a database of gene sequence data. Also covers protein labeling agents and labeled proteins for use with the method. The method allows for faster sequencing times than previous methods, partly due to the elimination of the need for proteolytic or chemolytic digestion of the protein.
US Patent No. 6,713,758. Spherical side-to-side FAIMS. Inventors: Roger Guevremont, Randy Purves, David Barnett. Assignee: National Research Council of Canada.
Covers a high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometer (FAIMS) with a spherical electrode and an outer electrode, whereby the space between the electrodes defines an analyzer region. An ion inlet and outlet are disposed within the inner surface of the outer electrode so that the shortest distance between the inlet and outlet in any direction is about the same.
US Patent No. 6,707,039. AP-MALDI target illumination device and method for using an AP-MALDI target illumination device. Inventors: Jean-Luc Truche, Jian Bai, Kevin Killeen. Assignee: Agilent Technologies.
Covers an atmospheric pressure MALDI apparatus and method that includes a reflective surface on the interface for viewing the target and adjusting the relative position of the substrate and the laser beam.
US Patent No. 6,703,609. Tandem FAIMS/ion-trapping apparatus and method. Inventors: Roger Guevremont, Randy Purves, David Barnett. Assignee: National Research Council of Canada.
Covers a method for selectively transmitting ions using a FAIMS device. The space between the two electrodes defines the first analyzer region, and the second analyzer region is provided in communication with the first region. The ions are coupled from the first to the second region and an asymmetric waveform is used to generate an electric field within the first region with compensation voltage applied to prevent ions from exiting the analyzer region. The second analyzer region then effects a different separation of the ions. Finally, the ions are trapped inside a trapping region.
US Patent No. 6,703,608. Method and apparatus for generating improved daughter-ion spectra using time-of-flight mass spectrometers. Inventors: Armin Holle, Jochen Franzen. Assignee: Bruker Daltonik.
Covers method and instruments for measuring MS/MS spectra in TOF mass spectrometers by raising the potential of a potential lift during the passage of ions and delaying the acceleration of the ions after the lift, making it possible to produce a focus of the velocity spreads of ions at the detector. The mass spectrometer can also be adjusted by dynamically shaping the acceleration pulse of the lift device to focus the velocity spread of all the ion masses in the spectrum on the detector.