Methods and apparatus for mass fingerprinting of biomolecules

A method of determining the likelihood of the presence of a biomolecule comprising the steps of:

• providing at least one mass signal, wherein said mass signal has a mass signal intensity;
• comparing said mass signal to a list of known biomolecule fragment signals to determine a potential source biomolecule of said mass signal, wherein said mass signal corresponds to at least one biomolecule fragment of said potential source biomolecule;
• determining a biomolecule fragment score for said mass signal, wherein said biomolecule fragment score comprises a function of a detection likelihood for said mass signal which defines a biomolecule fragment detection parameter;
• repeating the steps of comparing and determining a biomolecule fragment score as necessary for additional mass signals;
• combining said biomolecule fragment scores of said mass signals that correspond to a known biomolecule fragment list for said potential source biomolecule, said combination defining a biomolecule score for said potential source biomolecule;
• repeating the step of combining as necessary for additional potential source biomolecules;
• and
• determining whether said biomolecule should be subjected to MS-MS analysis based on said biomolecule score of said potential source biomolecule that corresponds to said biomolecule.

An apparatus for determining the likelihood of the presence of a biomolecule based on biomolecule fragment detection likelihood, the apparatus comprising:

• a biomolecule fragment separation apparatus providing at least one mass signal, wherein said mass signal has a mass signal intensity;
• a first memory element storing said mass signal provided by said biomolecule fragment separation apparatus;
• a second memory element storing a list of known biomolecule fragment signals;
• a third memory element storing a comparator accessing said first memory element and said second memory element to determine if a mass signal stored in said first memory element matches a biomolecule fragment signal in said second memory element;
• a fourth memory element storing a mass signal-biomolecule fragment signal match determined by said comparator;
• a fifth memory element containing a weight generator accessing said first memory element and said fourth memory element for determining a biomolecule fragment score for said mass signal;
• a sixth memory element storing the biomolecule fragment scores;
• a seventh memory element containing a combination generator accessing said third memory element and said sixth memory element for combining said biomolecule fragment scores of said mass signals that correspond to a known biomolecule fragment list for a potential source biomolecule, said combination defining a biomolecule score for said potential source biomolecule;
• and
• an output device providing an output display of at least one of said biomolecule scores.