Talk:Mass spectrometry imaging

Definition
The definition seems to exclude SIMS imaging, which is mass spectrometry imaging, but not limited to biomolecules. --Kkmurray 03:47, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Adding metal ions (as an analyte) to the definition of MS imaging is another idea to enrich the article. I mentioned already SIMS imaging and I would welcome contributions to this field of MSI. Also DESI imaging applications can be seen as MS imaging. -- Maldiman 14:25, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Images
Hi! I added 2 MALDI images to the commons and on the MALDI imaging article. Feel free to take a look and see about maybe adding them to the article. Tmyers14 (talk) 14:27, 25 March 2015 (UTC)

Peer Review
Good job of adding some image for adding the image for MALDI and SIMS and editing the page. Some suggestions to improve the article would be to add the information that you get from reference number 4. You can also add diagrams and methods for each part.
 * — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nvu4553 (talk • contribs) 12:19, April 16, 2015

Terminology
As someone new to this subject, I'm slightly confused about the terminology. At the top of the article, the abbreviation used is MSI, but later on there are references to IMS. Are these two terms interchangeable? Is one used more often than the other? Does the I in IMS stand for imaging, or ion? If the two terms are synonymous, it would be really helpful to have something along the lines of "also referred to as..." in the first sentence; on the other hand, if there are differences in usage I think it would be good to explain this. Thanks! (Edit - I found this note in Mass Spectrometry: A Textbook by J. Gross (p. 544), which explains the source of my confusion: "The term imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is correlated to the same acronym as ion mobility spectrometry..., thus one must be aware of the context in which IMS is being used.") 130.159.177.98 (talk) 11:32, 15 November 2019 (UTC)

You have hit upon a long(ish) running minor controversy in the field. Imaging Mass Spectrometry (IMS) is the term used in the US, while Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) is used in Europe. In the rest of the world its more interchangeable but people tend to prefer MSI as it doesn't clash with Ion Mobility Spectroscopy (as you found), which is also increasingly used with MSI (e.g instruments like Waters Synapt and Bruker timsTOF). --139.143.75.228 (talk) 10:28, 14 July 2020 (UTC)