Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 1, 2026

In Situ Characterization of Hydrated Proteins in Water by SALVI and ToF-SIMS
Published on: February 15, 2016
Sample processing, protocol, and statistical analysis of the time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry
Goncalo Barreto1, Antti Soininen, Tarvo Sillat
1Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 8, Biomedicum 1, P.O. Box 700, 00029 HUS, Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract:
Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is increasingly being used in analysis of biological samples. For example, it has been applied to distinguish healthy and osteoarthritic human cartilage. This chapter discusses ToF-SIMS principle and instrumentation including the three modes of analysis in ToF-SIMS. ToF-SIMS sets certain requirements for the samples to be analyzed; for example, the samples have to be vacuum compatible. Accordingly, sample processing steps for different biological samples, i.e., proteins, cells, frozen and paraffin-embedded tissues and extracellular matrix for the ToF-SIMS are presented. Multivariate analysis of the ToF-SIMS data and the necessary data preprocessing steps (peak selection, data normalization, mean-centering, and scaling and transformation) are discussed in this chapter.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry
Tandem Mass Spectrometry
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...

