a method for detecting a list of known biopolymer molecules comprises : calculating , for each biopolymer , a respective list of oligomer molecules predicted to be produced by chemical processing ; calculating , for each oligomer molecule , a respective predicted chromatographic elution time period ; assigning , for each biopolymer molecule , one or more selected oligomer molecules to be detected , wherein the selecting is performed using weighted selection probabilities determined from the predicted elution times ; scheduling a plurality of oligomer detection events of a detection system , wherein each oligomer detection event corresponds to a respective one of the predicted elution time periods ; performing the chemical reaction or processing of the sample to generate a processed sample ; introducing the processed sample into a chromatographic system ; introducing any eluting oligomers into the detection system ; and operating the detection system so as to search for each of the selected oligomer molecules in accordance with the scheduled detection events .