Methods and systems for detecting aerosol particles without using complex organic MALDI matrices

A system for identifying the composition of bioaerosol particles without pre-treatment of the bioaerosol particles using complex organic MALDI matrices, the system comprising:

• an aerosol beam generator to generate a beam of single particles;
• a continuous laser generator to generate a single continuous laser, in association with a data analysis system, configured to:
• index each particle in the beam of single particles;
• optically characterize in association with one or more laser scattering devices, particle size, particle shape, and fluorescence of each indexed particle, and generate optical data;
• and
• select which indexed particle is to be ionized;
• a pulse ionization laser generator triggered by the continuous laser, having an ionization region of less than about 150 μm in diameter and configured to simultaneously generate an IR laser pulse and an UV laser pulse when each selected indexed particle reaches the ionization region, and is simultaneously exposed to the IR laser pulse and the UV laser pulse to produce at least one of ionized fragments of each selected indexed particle and photons associated with each selected indexed particle, wherein the molecular weight of each ionized fragment is between about 1 kDa and 150 kDa;
• and,
• a TOFMS detector to analyze the ionized fragments associated with each selected indexed particle and generate unique mass spectral data associated with each selected indexed particle, wherein the data analysis system is further configured to:
• compile the optical data with unique mass spectral data associated with each selected indexed particle using data fusion;
• and
• compare the compiled optical data with a training data set comprising of a knowledge base of known biological matter to predict composition of the bioaerosol particles.