The new detector incorporates a laser head with a mass spectrometer

A new detector incorporates a laser head with a mass spectrometer that will give the analysis results immediately. Scientists hope this new device will have many applications including evaluating a tumor when cutting or quickly identifying explosives in luggage.

The laser head will vaporize tiny samples and then the mass spectrometer will collect and analyze. This device can even be used on living organisms, according to the team at George Washington University.

Akos Vertes, a lecturer in George Washington's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, said in an interview: 'We are referring to the analysis results within less than a second.'

Vertes and graduate student Peter Nemes said they used the device to track addictive drugs in urine samples, detecting chemical changes associated with color changes on leaves and finding traces. dynamite on 1 dollar bill.

Akos Vertes (left) , lecturer in Biochemistry and molecular biology at George Washington University and graduate student Peter Nemes. (Photo: Reuters)

George Washington University has applied for a patent for this system. Vertes said it was the first device to produce such fast results on living cells.

Called laser eraser electronic ionization (LAESI), this system only needs to size a desk in the laboratory. But it can be more handy with smaller spectra and laser heads. But anyway, according to Vertes, it still cannot be pocket-sized.

The laser head burns the living cells, evaporates in part, and sends molecules into the air in a slight breath. In the process known as electronic spray ionization, a stream of charged droplets is in place, blocking the molecule and binding to them to form charged droplets.

The 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded John Fenn the discovery of electronic spray ionization.

Handset

A mass spectrometer can measure any charged molecule called an ion. Vertes and Nemes say ion droplets can be projected by an extremely small head equipped with an optical cable that transmits the laser. Then, a small pipe takes the sample into the mass spectrometer for analysis.

Through taking a series of samples, the detector can analyze changes at the cellular level.'We hope this device will help in the field of Bio-Medicine. We want to open a cell, analyze it and then move on to a new cell. ' Vertes said.

This can help biologists to understand a living system and help surgeons, for example, analyze tumors as soon as they are removed.'One important thing to know is where the cancer cells end and where the healthy cells start.' Currently doctors have to send samples to a laboratory but this system can help them save time.

Vertes also tried to use the system to observe stem cells during differentiation, changing into different types of cells.

Current methods only allow scientists to track changes at a time in each cell sample and destroy living cells during follow-up.'The power of this system lies in the ability to monitor 50 different metabolites with a single sampling.'