In a recent article published in the Siriraj Medical Journal,  a team at the Department of Microbiology. Siriraj Hospital, had developed a new method of identifying rare pathogenic bacteria using the Maldi Tos Mass Spectrometry Method. (MALDI is the abbreviation for Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation, while TOS is the abbreviation for Time of flight mass spectrometry). The process involves subjecting the sample specimens to the Mass TOS Mass Spectrometer and then matching the bacteria isolates against a previously collated database of bacteria. The process is much faster, ranging between to a few minutes to less than an  hour versus current conventional lab methods that are usually complex and vary between 4 to 8 hours with a lesser degree of accuracy than the method developed by Siriraj Hospital. This new innovative bacteria identification method can be extremely useful in saving lives as the time factor in determining the pathogenic bacteria can be shortened tremendously and the right type of treatment protocols faster determined and administered.

Reference: Identification of Uncommon Pathogenic Bacteria by MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Using a Custom Library of Siriraj Hospital, EKCHAROENKUL, Kanda et al. Identification of Uncommon Pathogenic Bacteria by MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Using a Custom Library of Siriraj Hospital. Siriraj Medical Journal, [S.l.], v. 70, n. 2, p. 127-130, mar. 2018. ISSN 2228-8082. Available at: