Mass spec versus Edman

Patrick McAtee (PatrickM@genelabs.com)
Fri, 27 Feb 1998 10:14:53 -0800

I am not an Edman guy or a mass spec person, per se. However, I have
written papers and patents in the last 4-5 years which have used both
hand-in-hand to pursue infectious disease targets and to identify
vaccine candidates. I admit to becoming "starry eyed" when Kathy Stone
"turned me to the dark side" of MALDI-TOF. My demise into the evil
world of electrospray was further exascerbated by the gently lilting
voice of the M-Scan receptionist (you have to call them). But
seriously, it will take a very special, affordable, very user-friendly
MS to put Edman out on the street. It could hapen in time. I can
remember sending cytokines to Marshall Siegal's lab at Lederle about
five years ago and you were lucky to see anything within a month so
things have gotten alot easier. To me the ideal proteomic lab will have
both capabilities as they complement each other nicely. We used both to
proteomically nail a target in H. pylori. which should be coming out
sometime this year.

I have to go now to care for and feed my mass spectrometers. The
Voyager was very bad last night and "voyaged" with Jerry Rice down to a
parlor in Mountain View (read the Chronicle). The Mariner is being sent
on a sequest to navigate the two out of the brig.

Sorry Jim, I couldn't resist !

C. Patrick McAtee, Ph.D.
Group Leader
Microanalytical Chemistry
Genelabs Technologies, Inc.