«Flying elephants» for sensors and nanomedicine

« A few years ago the idea of making proteins or polymers “fly” by electrospray ionization (ESI) seemed as improbable as a flying elephant, but today it is a standard part of modern mass spectrometers » (Fenn, Nobel Lecture  2002). Nowadays, it is well recognised that  ESI sources are more than analytical  tools. 

At ISM  we are building a set-up based on an ESI source, where an ion beam  of complex  analytes can be transferred and handle in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions for studies and applications in several fields, from life sciences to nanotechnologies. 

Solvent-free deposition in clean UHV environmental conditions of highly selected species, like size-selected nanoparticles  or enzymes with a specific conformation, will allow to produce  innovative and selective  sensors for biomarkers  detection, food and environment quality check  as well as to fabricate low dimensional materials with tailored functions.