However, Agar believes that the other technologies can be "very complimentary" to DESI mass spectrometry. "The ultimate goal is to find the right fit or combination of approaches for a given application," she said.

In the new study, the researchers also found that a few fatty acids are more concentrated in breast cancer tissue rather than normal tissue. They still have to conduct more research to determine the significance of it but there have been reports that those fatty acids are involved in the movement of breast cancer cells in the body.


Going forward, the researchers will continue to evaluate DESI mass spectrometry in a lot of different tumors in the breast as well as in the brain, prostate and liver. A patient will usually get a biopsy and have to go back weeks later for an intervention that is similar to the biopsy. But if they can use the tool to tell at the time of the biopsy what the cancer is about, then they can probably treat it right then.

"There are a lot of requests coming our way – I wish we could be faster but I also hope a lot of people start studying or pushing those technologies forward and validating them very carefully," said Agar.

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