Physicists and physical chemists started the field of mass spectrometry (MS) and the petroleumindustry promoted development of commercial instrumentation, but it is mass spectrometry's relevance to biologyand medicine that has propelled much of its growth and public attention. MS defines biochemical pathways, takingparticular advantage of stable isotope-labeled tracers. Early work that focused on drug metabolism and toxicologyhas led to critical roles in sports competitions and forensics. MS enabled amino acid sequencing of peptides andprecise structural determinations of steroids, glycans, oligonucleotides, toxins and perfumes; today it is thefundamental approach for proteomics, glycomics, lipidomics, metabolomics and dynamic imaging. The needs ofbiological MS have motivated increases in mass range, scan speed, sensitivity, resolution and mass accuracy; today'samazing instruments are capable of analyzing vanishingly small amounts of materials that are components of extremely complex mixtures, well beyond the imagination and dreams of early practitioners.

Ever-widening horizons of biological mass spectrometry

246th National Meeting (2013)

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