Mass spectrometry of proteins -: Uppsala perspectives on past and present

The development of biological mass spectrometry has been rapid in the past three to four decades. In particular, the possibility to detect and identify peptides and proteins from biologically and medically relevant samples has revolutionized life sciences. The development has gone from a stage where the detection of insulin in a mass spectrum was a major event to one in which the recording of mass spectra with more than 10(4) resolved and calibrating peaks in each spectrum is a routine task. In this paper, the evolution of protein mass spectrometry will be discussed from the Uppsala horizon with special emphasis on the unique coupling between ion induced desorption of biomolecules and ion track physics. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.