Patent ID: 8525104

Claim:
A method for analyzing the biological molecule content of a tissue sample obtained from normal tissue or abnormal/diseased tissue in situ, wherein the method provides for a level of detection of the biological molecules in the sample in an amount ranging from about 1 attamol to about 10 attamols, comprising: a) collecting a sample of tissue from a subject into a first solution effective to maintain integrity of the biological molecule; b) treating the sample with a second solution comprising one or more enzymes, or chemicals, effective to dissociate the tissue sample or of digesting the dissociated tissue sample into smaller fragments; c) treating the preparation from step b) with a matrix assisted laser desorption ionization imaging (MALDI) matrix solution; d) analyzing the preparation from step c) by direct tissue (DT)-matrix assisted laser desorption ionization imaging (MALDI)-time of flight (TOF) measurement or DT-MALDI-TOF-TOF measurement; e) creating a data file utilizing the information from step d); f) entering the data from the data file of step e) into an external database to create a signature map for the tissue from which the data was obtained; and g) comparing the results from step d) with a signature map for normal tissue, wherein said normal tissue corresponds to, or is of the same tissue type, as the tissue from which the sample was obtained.