Systems and methods for determining attributes of biological samples

Abstract

Systems and methods of determining pre-quantitation attributes of biological samples using post-quantitation attributes of those samples is disclosed. By altering a set of biological samples in a measurable way before running the set through an instrument (e.g., a mass spectrometer), a model can be developed that enables determination of the unknown pre-quantitation attributes in other biological samples as a function of post-quantitation attributes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of determining an unknown pre-quantitation attribute of a target biological sample using an electronic device, comprising the steps of:
 receiving, via the electronic device, a set of biological data pairs, each biological data pair corresponding to an altered biological sample and comprising a known pre-quantitation attribute and a set of post-quantitation attributes;   computationally developing an at least one model, via the electronic device using the set of biological data pairs, describing a relationship between (1) a subset of post-quantitation attributes and (2) the known pre-quantitation attribute; and   applying, via the electronic device, a set of target biological sample post-quantitation attributes to the at least one model to determine the unknown pre-quantitation attribute of the target biological sample.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the altered biological sample is a deliberately degraded biological sample. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the known pre-quantitation attribute comprises a type of deliberate degradation that the deliberately degraded biological sample has been subjected to. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the known pre-quantitation attribute comprises at least one of exposure to heat, exposure to cold, exposure to ultraviolet light, exposure to chemical means, exposure to a denaturing reagent, exposure to an enzyme activity, exposure to one or more electromagnetic fields, exposure to radiation, exposure to agitation, exposure to pressure, and exposure to a change in pressure. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the unknown pre-quantitation attribute comprises at least one of an indication of quality of the target biological sample. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a post-quantitation attribute comprises an output of results from a mass spectrometer. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of using the set of biological data pairs to computationally develop an at least one model further comprises identifying and disregarding unnecessary post-quantitation attributes. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the target biological sample comprises at least one of a blood sample, a protein serum sample, a tissue sample, a CSF sample, a urine sample, and a stool sample. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a post-quantitation attribute of the set of post-quantitation attributes comprises at least one of a protein quantitation, a protein abundance, a protein concentration, a protein activity, a protein presence, a peptide quantitation, a peptide presence, a peptide abundance, an RNA activity, a wavelength emission measurement, a presence of post translational modifications, an amino acid sequence, and a mass to charge ratio value. 
     
     
         10 . A method of determining a quality of a target biological sample using an electronic device, comprising the steps of:
 receiving, via the electronic device, a set of biological data pairs, each biological data pair corresponding to an altered biological sample and comprising a known quality and a set of post-quantitation attributes;   computationally developing an at least one model, via the electronic device using the set of biological data pairs, describing a relationship between (1) a subset of post-quantitation attributes and (2) the known quality; and   applying, via the electronic device, a set of target biological sample post-quantitation attributes to the at least one model to determine the quality of the target biological sample.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the altered biological sample is a deliberately degraded biological sample. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the deliberately degraded biological sample is degraded such that the degradation corresponds to the known quality. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the type of deliberate degradation comprises at least one of exposure to heat, exposure to cold, exposure to ultraviolet light, exposure to chemical means, exposure to a denaturing reagent, exposure to an enzyme activity, exposure to radiation, exposure to agitation, exposure to pressure, and exposure to a change in pressure. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the target biological sample comprises at least one of a blood sample, a protein serum sample, a tissue sample, a CSF sample, a urine sample, and a stool sample. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein a post-quantitation attribute of the set of post-quantitation attributes comprises at least one of a protein quantitation, a protein abundance, a protein concentration, a protein activity, a protein presence, a peptide quantitation, a peptide presence, a peptide abundance, an RNA activity, a wavelength emission measurement, a presence of post translational modifications, an amino acid sequence, and a mass to charge ratio value. 
     
     
         16 . A system for use with an instrument, where the system develops an at least one model to determine an unknown pre-quantitation attribute of a target biological sample, comprising:
 a computational modeling device communicatively coupled with the instrument, the instrument configured to analyze altered biological samples to produce sets of post-quantitation attributes corresponding to the altered biological samples;   wherein each altered biological sample that has been analyzed by the instrument corresponds to a biological data pair, each biological data pair comprising a known pre-quantitation attribute and a set of post-quantitation attributes;   wherein the device:
 receives sets of biological data pairs as input, and 
 computationally develops an at least one model describing a relationship between (1) post-quantitation attributes and (2) the known pre-quantitation attribute, such that the at least one model can be applied to a set of target biological sample post-quantitation attributes to determine the unknown pre-quantitation attribute of the target biological sample. 
   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein:
 each altered biological sample is a deliberately degraded biological sample; and   the instrument is configured to analyze deliberately degraded biological samples to produce sets of post-quantitation attributes corresponding to the deliberately degraded biological samples.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the known pre-quantitation attribute comprises a type of deliberate degradation that the deliberately degraded biological sample has been subjected to. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the type of deliberate degradation comprises at least one of exposure to heat, exposure to cold, exposure to ultraviolet light, exposure to chemical means, exposure to a denaturing reagent, exposure to an enzyme activity, exposure to one or more electromagnetic fields, exposure to radiation, exposure to agitation, exposure to pressure, and exposure to a change in pressure. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the instrument is at least one of a mass spectrometer, a colorimeter, a spectrophotometer, a chromatograph, a gel electrophoresis system, a blood chemistry analyzer, a spectrofluorometer, an immunoassay system, proteomic assay systems, and an immunoturbidimetric system.