As with many cutting-edge technologies, the mass spectrometry marketplace comes flush with options, acronyms, and jargon, making it difficult for consumers to choose the system that's right for them. According to Philip Gafken, director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Proteomics Shared Resource in Seattle, it all comes down to application. "Believe it or not, it doesn't dawn on people that they should be looking closely at application. They don't really pay close attention to what they'll be using it for."
A triple-quadrupole instrument, for instance, is relatively inexpensive but also features a relatively slow scan rate, whereas today's top-of-the-line Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) instruments, with mass accuracy and resolution second to none, have the price tag to match.
"People have a tendency to buy the top of the line instrument," says Gafken, "when in fact the vast majority of applications are things that can be done ...
