Recent advances in laboratory automation have made Mass Spectroscopy an increasingly tenable approach for measuring bio-assay Responses in screening. However, the large amount of data generated per assay plate presents considerable challenges to its analysis. Luckily, ScreenAble uses R and, as with many analytical challenges, other experts have pointed the way for a path forward.

With the MassSpec File Viewer utility introduced in Version 3.0, ScreenAble Solutions is excited to enter into this important technology arena. The utility offers extensive tools for interactive analyis of a single well that can be used to analyze full matrices and display results in multi-read fashion dubbed multi-peak.

This DataFilter uses the R-package MALDIquant(Gibb, S. and Strimmer, K. (2012). MALDIquant: a versatile R package for the analysis of mass spectrometry data. Bioinformatics, 28(17):2270-2271) for it's calculation pipeline. The filter reads common XML formats supported by instrument providers. It expects one file per well although multiple spectra can be present. Other analysis paradigms are possible and our goal is to provide our customers with a solution that is "best-in-class".

The high performance R-graphics available in ScreenAble make the creation of multi-panel, multi-tabbed views of spectra and peak profiles such as that shown at left almost effortless. Although it is early days, ScreenAble Solutions looks forward to working with Customers to maximize their opportunities for application of these powerful methods. Watch this space!