Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 17, 2026

Identification of Rare Bacterial Pathogens by 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS
Published on: July 11, 2016
New methods of microbiological identification using MALDI-TOF
1Infection Control Committee, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein - HIAE, São Paulo (SP), Brazil. jpaster@einstein.br
Abstract:
Rapid diagnosis of pathogens is decisive to guarantee adequate therapy in infections: culture methods are precise and sensitive, but rather slow. New resources are available to enable faster diagnosis, and the most promising is MALDI-TOF technology: mass spectrometry applied to microbiological diagnosis. Times as fast as 10 to 15 minutes to etiological diagnosis are possible after a positive blood culture result. We hope to have this technology in our laboratory, ANVISA permitting and improving their very slow rate of doing things ... MALDI-TOF is basically putting a sample of culture or an enriched suspension of the probable pathogen over a small spot with a matrix and vaporizing it with a laser pulse: the products are aspired into a chamber, ionized and reach detectors at variable times: the detectors show time of arrival and quantity of the product, and each pathogen has its characteristic spectrum analyzed by a software.
Related Concept Videos
MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry
Methods of Classification and Identification
Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI)
Peptide Identification Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry
This technique helps gather information regarding the protein from which the peptide was obtained and to study the peptides’ amino acid sequence. Identifying peptides from a complex mixture is an important component of the growing field of...
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Automated Microbial Diagnostics

