Exploring the Future of Mass Spectrometry

Complex discovery and therapeutic characterization lead the topics at this year’s ASMS conference

The 71^st American Society for Mass Spectrometry annual conference is being held in Houston, Tx, this year from June 4-8. Going beyond the territory we witnessed in 2022, this year’s event promises to bring a fresh horizon of innovations and new products—including many in the realm of complex discovery and data deconvolution as well as advances in biotherapeutics characterization and development.

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo once again brings a formidable presence to the conference. Annual user meetings include “The future of mass spectrometry plenary panel,” where leaders will share their vision for the future and how novel technologies will have the greatest impact on biological insight. Other user meetings will include advances in small molecule characterization, innovations in clinical and translational research, spatial proteomics, and next-generation biotherapeutics.

Also on the bill are a series of breakfast workshops, software user meetings, and a host of other events—topped off by the illustrious Thermo hospitality suite.

Agilent Technologies

Agilent is planning to showcase innovative products and comprehensive workflow solutions designed to increase data quality and streamline productivity.

Special presentations include the Sunday ion mobility event focusing on advances to separate and identify chemical isomers and unknowns. Other talks will explore strategies to streamline complex workflows and improve ion mobility measurements with high-resolution demultiplexing.

Breakfast sessions will range from comprehensive food safety analysis to PFAS to targeted and untargeted workflow discussions.

Bruker Corporation

Bruker will explore rapidly emerging technologies in the realm of chromatography-free workflows, among other advances. The combination of DART (direct analysis in real-time) ionization and Bruker mass spectrometry technologies allows sample preparation to be sped up significantly, leading to more efficient and economical workflows. Immediate applications include forensics, food safety, and environmental testing, among others.

The company will also host the eXceed Symposia on targeted and untargeted screening. Here, experts will cover topics including applied chromatography-free mass spec, analytical toxicology, PFAS analyses, and imaging of polymeric materials. The interesting topic of routine analysis of grapes and wine from smoke-affected vineyards will also be explored.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments

Shimadzu is planning to “kick some mass” with breakfast seminars covering topics such as resource-efficient MALDI MSI, setting up a core facility to enable diverse use workflows, LC, superficial chromatography (SFC), and vacuum differential mobility MS for complex sample analysis, including isomeric and isobaric compound separations.

Instruments and solutions slated for display include the Benchtop MALDI-TOF Imaging Starter Kit, which enables MALDI imaging exploration on an entry-level system. Also present, the LC-MC-9050 quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometer brings elevated accuracy with high-precision temperature control and stable polarity switching, allowing users to explore more analytical space and new applications.

SCIEX

SCIEX will host talks focusing on comprehensive biopharma characterization, candidate selection in drug discovery, advances in charge heterogeneity, and other topics in the biotherapeutics realm.

Breakfast seminars will include deep dives into a better understanding of charge variants and glycans, new depths of protein coverage, and accelerating paths toward biotherapeutic discovery and screening.

908 Devices

908 Devices will bring an impressive series of posters and oral presentations to the meeting. A breakfast seminar titled “Protein Characterization of Biologics using Microchip CE-MS: From mAbs to AAVs” will share highlights of using the company’s proprietary CE-MS chip technology for determining charge variants and glycan mapping for more complete antibody and viral vector protein characterization.

Outlook

This year’s event will span the landscape from complex small molecule discovery to therapeutic protein characterization, with many interesting technological advancements along the way.