CovMS: An Automated and Quantitative Matrix-Independent Assay for Mass Spectrometric Measurement of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein.

The pandemic readiness toolbox needs to be extended, targeting different biomolecules, using orthogonal experimental set-ups. Here, we build on our Cov-MS effort using LC-MS, adding SISCAPA technology to enrich proteotypic peptides of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein from trypsin-digested patient samples. The CovMS assay is compatible with most matrices including nasopharyngeal swabs, saliva, and plasma and has increased sensitivity into the attomole range, a 1000-fold improvement compared to direct detection in a matrix.

Cov-MS: A Community-Based Template Assay for Mass-Spectrometry-Based Protein Detection in SARS-CoV-2 Patients.

Rising population density and global mobility are among the reasons why pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, spread so rapidly across the globe. The policy response to such pandemics will always have to include accurate monitoring of the spread, as this provides one of the few alternatives to total lockdown. However, COVID-19 diagnosis is currently performed almost exclusively by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

Superficial mycoses in Belgium: Burden, costs and antifungal drugs consumption.

Background: Monitoring of superficial mycoses requires more attention due to their important incidence, health costs and antifungal drugs consumption.

Objectives: The objectives were to estimate the burden of superficial mycoses in Belgium and to assess trends in associated antifungal consumption.

Methods: The burden of dermatophytoses (including onychomycosis), as well as skin and genital candidiasis, was estimated using disability-adjusted life years (DALY).

Discrimination of Regioisomeric and Stereoisomeric Saponins from Aesculus hippocastanum Seeds by Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry.

Modern mass spectrometry methods provide a huge benefit to saponin structural characterization, especially when combined with collision-induced dissociation experiments to obtain a partial description of the saponin (ion) structure. However, the complete description of the structures of these ubiquitous secondary metabolites remain challenging, especially since isomeric saponins presenting small differences are often present in a single extract. As a typical example, the horse chestnut triterpene glycosides, the so-called escins, comprise isomeric saponins containing subtle differences such as cis-trans ethylenic configuration (stereoisomers) of a side chain or distinct positions of an acetyl group (regioisomers) on the aglycone.

Multiple Gas-Phase Conformations of a Synthetic Linear Poly(acrylamide) Polymer Observed Using Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry.

Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) has emerged as a powerful separation and identification tool to characterize synthetic polymer mixtures and topologies (linear, cyclic, star-shaped,…). Electrospray coupled to IM-MS already revealed the coexistence of several charge state-dependent conformations for a single charge state of biomolecules with strong intramolecular interactions, even when limited resolving power IM-MS instruments were used. For synthetic polymers, the sample's polydispersity allows the observation of several chain lengths.