MALDI-TOF/TOF

Our MALDI-TOF/TOF services guarantees positive protein identification results*. Samples that do not produce results will not be charged.

*Conditions of the guarantee:

  1. The protein band on the gel must stain strongly with Coomassie blue (> 300 ng).
  2. The band must be a single species and not part of a complex smear (like from a crude extract).
  3. The protein band must be cut out of an SDS-PAGE gel by a Proteomics core staff technician.

All three conditions below must be honored.
No charge for bands that do not yield protein identifications with significant Mascot scores.

Expected results:

  • A > or equal to 300 ng band will yield at least two peptides with high quality MS/MS data.
  • 1 microgram bands will produce superior results and coverage!
  • The mass spectrometry data will be of publication quality.

Procedure for guaranteed service:

  1. Run your protein sample on SDS-PAGE and stain with Coomassie blue.
    • Your protein of interest needs to resolve as a single-band and not as part of a smear.
    • Load enough material for a strong Coomassie band (0.3 to 1 µg of protein in the band).
    • Also, for a guarantee, you must load a second lane with a BSA protein standard (316ng per loading) provided by us (see lane 2, BSA marker, on Field Test page). We use this to validate loading and staining levels.
  2. Stain with Coomassie blue or SimplyBlue™ SafeStain (Invitrogen).
  3. Take a picture of your gel and indicate with a marker which bands you want identified.
  4. Bring the intact gel to the Rochester Proteomics Center Lab (rm. G-9828, 275-0769) to Kevin or Katie for processing
    • In other words, “do not cut out the band yourself, if you want guaranteed results!”

Turnaround time: 5 to10 working days.