Guidelines for Sample Submission

For Gel Band Identification:

We need to see the bands in order to do the analysis, if you "think" you see the band/spot, please load more on the gel, if you "know" you see the band - come to us.
An immunoreactive band on an immunoblot is not necessarily the observed band by Coomassie or Silver stain as other proteins are often present at the same spot and immunoblot detection or radioactive labeling are generally much more sensitive than MS.
Purity of the band and amount of protein affect the ability to get a good identification. In other words the purer the protein and the more there is of it, the greater likelihood and improved confidence of the identification.
It is best to be able to see the band/spot with, but ID's can be done from silver stained (Biorad Silver Stain Plus) gel as well. If you use another stain, please ensure it is mass spec compatible.
Avoid fetal bovine serum. If the samples are from cell cultures, the fetal bovine serum represents a huge contaminant - cell culture experiments should be done in serum free media after extensive washing of cells. Presence of residual FBS results often in the database search returning bovine serum proteins. Please come discuss if you cannot use serum free medium.
Keratin is also a very common contaminant. Skin and hair debris can ruin your analysis. Extra precaution should be taken in all steps of sample handling to keep contaminates like skin, hair, and fuzz from getting into the sample.