Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a sensitive label-free technique that can be used to study a wide variety of clinical phenotypes. In this context, MSI offers huge diagnostic potential by supporting decision making in the determination of personalized treatment strategies. However, improvements in throughput and robustness are still needed before it finds a place in routine application. While the field has seen tremendous improvements in the throughput of data acquisition, robust and high-throughput sample preparation methods compatible with these acquisition methods need to be developed. To address this challenge, we have developed several methods to reduce the matrix application time to less than 5 min, while maintaining sensitivity and reproducibility. Workflows incorporating these methods provide a pipeline analysis time for MSI sample preparation and acquisition of less than 30 min. The reduced time for these analyses will contribute towards the integration of MSI into routine molecular pathology for clinical diagnostics.

基质辅助激光解吸电离 (MALDI) 质谱成像 (MSI) 是一种敏感的无标记技术，可用于研究各种临床表型。在这种情况下，MSI 通过支持确定个性化治疗策略的决策，提供了巨大的诊断潜力。然而，在它在日常应用中找到一席之地之前，仍然需要提高吞吐量和鲁棒性。虽然该领域在数据采集的吞吐量方面取得了巨大的进步，但需要开发与这些采集方法兼容的稳健和高通量的样品制备方法。为了应对这一挑战，我们开发了多种方法来将基质应用时间缩短至 5 分钟以下，同时保持灵敏度和重现性。结合这些方法的工作流程为 MSI 样品制备和采集提供了不到 30 分钟的管道分析时间。这些分析时间的减少将有助于将 MSI 整合到临床诊断的常规分子病理学中。