Nanospray (&Microspray) sources on the cheap -- build your own!

I brazenly stole this photo off Twitter this morning from Ryan Julian (JLab @ University of California Riverside, lab website here).

Recognize part of it? Did you throw a couple out? Hold onto it! They came up with a brilliant way of utilizing it for good.

On that topic, every year or two I remember to redirect people to the amazing UWPR Resources for all things proteomics.

For years, UWPR has kept an awesome part list and directions for how to make your own nanoflow source for Thermo instruments -- both the traditional LTQ interface (that is also on the Q Exactives) and the newer NG source configurations.

I hate nanospray, but my plans for single cell for 2020 aren't going to go very far without it, but it doesn't take too much imagination to rig these up for Microflow/microspray, (that fine line before you get <1uL/min when everything gets much harder to plumb and do correctly).

You can run lower flow rates on an IonMax or HESI II source with a smaller diameter capillary (old post on that here) which is great for me when I use an S-Trap mini cause I'm starting at 100ug of protein or more.  If I'm down at the S-Trap micro....it might be time to start thinking about where I left the EasyNLC..... OR  I can work on assembling a MicroSpray source that doesn't shoot my peptides at such an extreme angle. That sounds like a lot more fun!