Welcome

AIMS is a short course conducted on-site at Vanderbilt University by Resource faculty and staff. The curriculum typically includes 3.5 days of lectures and hands-on workshops focusing on the practical aspects of MALDI imaging. The course also includes on-site demonstrations of instrumentation by vendor sponsors. This is a unique educational experience in a small group setting that allows participants to network, ask questions of the experts, and get hands-on experience with all aspects of setting up a MALDI imaging experiment.

We have designed the course for mid-level to senior investigators; however, we also provide optional tutorial lectures on mass spectrometry and histology prior to the course for those attendees who may not be as familiar with one of those aspects.

The course is limited to 40 participants.

Get ready for AIMS.2024, April 30 – May 2! Learn more about it here!

General Curriculum

Sample Preparation

Sectioning fresh frozen and formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues for IMS experiments; implementing washing protocols tailored for different analytes of interest; maximizing compatibility among sectioning, washing, coating, and MS platforms

Matrix application

Choosing the best matrix/solvent combination for different analytes of interest; manual matrix application methods, including spray-coating, sublimation, and recrystallization; and automated matrix deposition methods

Instrumentation

Optimizing instrumental parameters for imaging; instrument comparisons for imaging different analytes (low vs high MW, MS or MS/MS, mass resolution, time); interact with leading instrument vendors for on-site instrument demos

Data Processing

Spectral pre- and post-processing, baseline subtraction, normalization; statistical analysis of IMS datasets and image registration