@article{mbs:/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.000695, author = "Tracz, Dobryan M. and Tober, Ashley D. and Antonation, Kym S. and Corbett, Cindi R.", title = "MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and high-consequence bacteria: safety and stability of biothreat bacterial sample testing in clinical diagnostic laboratories", journal= "Journal of Medical Microbiology", year = "2018", volume = "67", number = "3", pages = "341-346", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.000695", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.000695", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1473-5644", type = "Journal Article", keywords = "bioterrorism bacterial pathogens", keywords = "biothreat", keywords = "proficiency test panels", keywords = "clinical microbiology diagnostics", keywords = "MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry", abstract = "We considered the application of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for BSL-3 bacterial diagnostics, with a focus on the biosafety of live-culture direct-colony testing and the stability of stored extracts. Biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) bacterial species were used as surrogates for BSL-3 high-consequence pathogens in all live-culture MALDI-TOF experiments. Viable BSL-2 bacteria were isolated from MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry target plates after ‘direct-colony’ and ‘on-plate’ extraction testing, suggesting that the matrix chemicals alone cannot be considered sufficient to inactivate bacterial culture and spores in all samples. Sampling of the instrument interior after direct-colony analysis did not recover viable organisms, suggesting that any potential risks to the laboratory technician are associated with preparation of the MALDI-TOF target plate before or after testing. Secondly, a long-term stability study (3 years) of stored MALDI-TOF extracts showed that match scores can decrease below the threshold for reliable species identification (<1.7), which has implications for proficiency test panel item storage and distribution.", }