Devices for use in MALDI mass spectrometry

摘要

An alignment plate is provided with a plurality of holes for guiding a pipette tip toward a sample plate of a MALDI mass spectrometer. Each of the holes is provided with a conical upper contour in order to guide the pipette tip toward a specific location on the sample plate. Two companion alignment plates are used in order to overlay two separate arrays of samples on the sample plate. For instance, a first of two alignment plates is formed with a 10x10 array of holes so that a 10x10 array of samples is deposited by the pipette tip onto the sample plate. The second of the two alignment plates is formed with a 9x9 array of holes so that a 9x9 array of samples is deposited on the sample plate at locations offset from the 10x10 array of samples already on the sample plate. The number of samples loaded on the sample plate is large and the space on the sample plate is more fully utilized.