The training course begins with a chapter reviewing basic protein chemistry, including amino acids, peptide bonds, determining a peptide’s mass, and the different classes of protein structure. The material here is basic and serves as a quick review for students with prior course work in biochemistry. Although a novice to the field of biochemistry will find this section useful, it is unlikely to provide adequate preparation for some of the later chapters in the training course.

Following the introductory chapter, the training course continues with three chapters covering the basics of applying mass spectrometry to the characterization of proteins and peptides. Chapter 2 concisely and effectively introduces the techniques of MALDI and electrospray LC/MS as two methods for the determination of a protein’s molecular weight. Chapter 3 covers proteolysis, including common proteolytic reagents, the determination of individual peptide masses, and molecular weight searching of peptide fragments as tools for identifying proteins. Finally, Chapter 4 introduces peptide sequencing, including the use of quadrupole and ion trap MS/MS, common peptide ions resulting from MS/MS cleavage, the interpretation of y ion and b ion spectra, and charge derivitization. A student familiar with the basics of mass spectrometry will find the presentation logical and clear, even if his or her background in biochemistry is limited to the material in the training course’s first chapter.

The final three chapters introduce several important applications of mass spectrometry to the analysis of proteins. Chapter 5, for example, covers the investigation of covalent post-translational modifications to intact proteins, including phosphorylation, glycosylation, and cysteine disulfide bridge formation. Chapter 6 introduces the mass spectrometric analysis of non-covalent interactions such as oligomerization and receptor–ligand association. Finally, Chapter 7 covers the use of ICAT reagents for studying the differential expression of proteins. The material in these chapters assumes a background beyond that provided in the training course’s introductory chapter and is not suitable for students without a good background in basic protein chemistry.

Five quizzes are scattered throughout the course materials. Most are short, relatively easy, and largely test recall of facts, although a few questions require the analysis of data. The exception is the fourth quiz, which is significantly more demanding. More quizzes, longer quizzes, and quizzes with a greater emphasis on problem solving would be helpful additions.

As might be expected, the training course takes good advantage of animations to enhance the presentation. Most of the animations are both attractive and informative; their presence enhances the course material. The program also provides an audio narration of the text. This is a particularly useful feature as it helps pace the user as he or she works through the material and, more importantly, prompts the user to play the animations when they are most pedagogically useful. Finally, the program takes advantage of internal links to an online glossary and to a table of amino acids.

Faculty using this software in their teaching will appreciate the ability to tailor the content of the course to fit their particular needs. Using the program’s administrative features, faculty may create new pages using any program that can save files in an HTML format and insert the pages anywhere within the course’s existing lessons. Such materials may contain text, pictures, audio clips, video clips, or hyperlinks to other Web sites.

Installation and operation of the software is straightforward (although only a PC version is available). The copy included for review came without a permanent license but did provide 16 hours of activation time; a typical student can expect to spend five to six hours in completing the course. The program follows the user’s progress through the course, including his or her responses on the quizzes, a useful feature for a faculty member using this program in a course.

Although the software and material are relatively free of errors, there are a few small problems. For example, the program’s manual states that the minimum system requirement for Internet browsers is Internet Explorer 5.0 or Netscape 6.0; version 7.1 of Netscape, however, appears to be incompatible with the program’s internal links to a table of amino acids. When taking a quiz, using the online glossary to look up terms requires restarting the quiz. Finally, the correct response to one quiz question is incorrectly identified. None of these problems is serious or detracts from the program’s usefulness.

The publisher suggests that the program will be valuable to industrial, academic, and government scientists. For academic users, the course materials will provide a useful supplement for courses in analytical chemistry and biochemistry. Faculty teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in instrumental analysis will find the first four chapters particularly helpful when introducing students to this increasingly important application of mass spectrometry. Faculty teaching upper level courses in biochemical methods of analysis will find that the course provides an appropriate introduction to mass spectrometry and a useful collection of practical examples.