Instrumentation and software for mass spectrometry imaging—Making the most of what you've got

Whilst it might be desirable to be able to purchase an up to date mass spectrometry platform and dedicate it to mass spectrometry imaging, this is not the situation initially for many laboratories. There are a variety of methods by which existing mass spectrometers can be upgraded/adapted to perform mass spectrometry imaging using MALDI, DESI or LAESI as the means of generating ions. The focus of this article is on relatively low cost adaptations of existing instrumentation with suggestions made for performance enhancements where appropriate. A brief description of attempts to perform SIMS imaging on quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometers is also given. The required software is described with particular emphasis on freeware packages which can be used to display/enhance data. Requirements for data pre-processing prior or statistical analysis are discussed along with the use of MATLAB® for the analysis itself.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Imaging Mass Spectrometry: A User’s Guide to a New Technique for Biological and Biomedical Research.

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► Methods for Upgrading/Converting Existing MS Instrumentation for MS Imaging are described.
► Freely available software for the generation and processing of MS Images is described.
► Software for pre and post processing of MS imaging data is described and suggestions made for its optimum use.