Abstract: A method for disrupting a sample of biological material of human, animal, or plant origin for subsequent proteome analysis by a mass spectrometry method is provided. The method involves disrupting the sample by treatment with a certain volume of an organic acid until the sample completely dissolves, incubating the sample for a certain period, and then neutralizing the sample with a neutralizing solution until a pH value between 7 and 9 is reached.

Abstract: A method for disrupting a sample of biological material for proteome analysis by a mass-spectrometry method is provided, involving admixing the sample with a certain volume of an organic acid, incubating said sample for a certain period for lysis and then neutralizing said sample.

Abstract: The invention relates to methods for the mass spectrometric analysis of microbes, in particular to a transfer method of microbes that are required to be identified from agar plates onto mass spectrometric sample supports and their preparation for ionization by matrix-assisted laser desorption (MALDI). Microbes from microcolonies which have grown on the agar plates after a culture time of only six to eight hours are transferred with a high transfer yield onto contact surfaces of suitable size by direct contact and cell disrupted on the contact surface; the released proteins are prepared with matrix material on the contact surface as MALDI samples. The ionization by matrix-assisted laser desorption also takes place on the contact surface.

Abstract: The invention relates to methods for the mass spectrometric analysis of microbes, in particular to a transfer method of microbes that are required to be identified from agar plates onto mass spectrometric sample supports and their preparation for ionization by matrix-assisted laser desorption (MALDI). Microbes from microcolonies which have grown on the agar plates after a culture time of only six to eight hours are transferred with a high transfer yield onto contact surfaces of suitable size by direct contact and cell disrupted on the contact surface; the released proteins are prepared with matrix material on the contact surface as MALDI samples. The ionization by matrix-assisted laser desorption also takes place on the contact surface.

Abstract: A method for diagnosing TSE-induced pathologic changes in tissues including the steps of: (a) directing infrared radiation to a tissue sample with pathologic changes caused by TSE, recording its spectral characteristics after irradiation and (b) comparing and classifying the infrared spectra thus obtained with a reference database containing infrared spectra of TSE-infected tissues and non-infected tissues.