Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing and Rapid Diagnostics Practice Test 2026 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

MALDI-TOF MS stands for Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The key idea is that this method uses a matrix to help transfer the sample into the gas phase with minimal fragmentation when struck by a laser (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization). The produced ions are then separated by their mass-to-charge ratio in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, where lighter ions reach the detector sooner than heavier ones. This combination—a matrix-enabled, laser-based ionization and a time-of-flight analyzer—defines the technique and its ability to generate characteristic protein spectra for identification.

The other options describe different diagnostic technologies that do not use this combination of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization and time-of-flight mass spectrometry, so they do not match what MALDI-TOF MS stands for.