Patent ID: 8304719

Claim:
A method, comprising: collecting a test sample and at least a control sample; subjecting said test and control samples to a chromatography and high resolution mass spectrometry analysis; obtaining at least a test sample data set and a control sample data set from said analysis, each data set comprising m/z, chromatographic time, and intensity information of detected ions, the data sets forming an initial chromatographic time range and an initial m/z range; specifying a chromatographic fluctuation time window comprising a range of chromatographic time fluctuations; specifying a mass precision window comprising a range of m/z measurement precisions; applying said chromatographic fluctuation time window in said initial chromatographic time range and said mass precision window in said initial m/z range around ions in said test sample data set to define sections of data in said control sample data set; providing a first means for subtracting ions in said test sample data set based on examination of the maximal intensities of ions in respective sections of said control sample data set; whereby said sections of data in the control sample data set allow for precise and thorough examination so that ions of sample matrix components that are present in both said control sample and said test sample are reliably captured and maximally subtracted from said test sample data set, and ions of components of interest in said test sample become apparent for identification in the resultant data.