Patent Document ID: 20150255261
Application ID: 14720360
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for identifying and characterizing one or more unknown microbes in a sample, the method comprising: a. performing a first analytical method using mass spectrometry to detect and identify one or more proteins from each of the one or more microbes; b. using the identity of the one or more proteins from each of the one or more microbes to assign a potential identity for at least one of the microbes in the sample to the genus species level; c. using information from step (b) to automatically select a second analytical method from a list of analytical methods, the second method also using mass spectrometry; d. performing the second analytical method on the sample to further identify and, optionally, quantify, one or more proteins indicative of any of: strain and/or serovar identification, antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial susceptibility and/or virulence, or any combination thereof; wherein neither the first analytical method nor the second analytical method includes chemical or enzymatic digestion of the proteins; and wherein further, at least the first analytical method is performed in real time.