The International School on Mass Spectrometry (IntSMS) 2026
The International School on Mass Spectrometry (IntSMS), established in 2020 and held every two years, is a six day full immersion school aimed to give advanced and higher education in mass spectrometry to graduate, PhD, post-doc students, and all those working in different areas of science, ranging from physics, chemistry, biosciences, food, environment, omics sciences to medicine, interested to improve their knowledge and culture in mass spectrometry.
The 3rd Course is devoted to MASS SPECTROMETRY and TANDEM MS of MACROMOLECULES
Fundamentals, Advances, and Applications
The school joins together participants from academia, public and private research centers and industry, and it is an useful occasion for allowing meeting of students and tutors coming from different countries and for creating new links and networking.
Each year at the end of the school participants are invited to fill out a school survey questionnaire. Responses to the questionnaire have been proven invaluable in helping to improve the logistics as well as the course organization.
All those wishing to improve their knowledge and culture in mass spectrometry are kindly invited to attend IntSMS.
Important Dates
- Registration Starts: November 2025
- Registration Ends: June 15, 2026
- Receiving Payment Deadline: June 30, 2026
- Cancellation and Refund Deadline: July 15, 2026
Registration
Registration fee: € 725,00
The registration fee includes:
- Participation to the school
- Copy of the slides presented in the lectures
- Certificate of attendance
- Full board accommodation in a double room (5 nights, Wed.-Sun. included)
- All meals (Breakfasts, lunches, dinners) and coffee breaks
- Excursion and gala dinner (Saturday)
- Free shuttle service from airports in Trapani and Palermo to Erice and back.
Drinks, beverages, and after-dinner coffee at the restaurants, telephone calls, personal laundry, etc. are not covered by the fee.
Abstract submission
Participants are encouraged to present an abstract for a poster communication on their own research activity. Abstract submission is optional, not mandatory.
- Details for abstract submission will be given to confirmed participants in June 2026.
- Selected posters will be presented as flash oral communications.
School outline
Fundamentals, Advances, and Applications
Mass spectrometry is an effective and enabling technology for identifying, structurally characterizing and quantifying large intact macromolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, with high specificity, accuracy, sensitivity and speed.
Numerous MS and tandem MS (i.e., MS/MS) approaches are available: high resolution MS, various MS/MS dissociation strategies (e.g., collision-, electron-, and photon-based, such as CID, ExD, and UVPD, respectively), top-down sequencing, native MS of complexes, MS imaging, ion mobility and many others.
These topics, together with recent technological advancements in MS and ancillary technologies, will be presented and critically discussed during the school, providing participants with a thorough and up-to-date background on applications of MS and MS/MS of macromolecules.
The school is organized in:
- Tutorial lectures: (60-120 mins) aimed at presenting theory, instrumentation and applications of ion mobility mass spectrometry given by an international team of lecturers;
- Poster sessions: Participants are encouraged to present a poster on their own research activity. Posters will be exhibited during the full period of the school to give the opportunity to those attending the school to go through;
- Selected flash orals: (10 mins each). Selected posters will be presented as flash oral communications to give participants the opportunity to present their work;
- Exercises: with the active participation of students in solving some exercises on matters presented in the lectures;
- Problem solving: in which participants present to the others and tutors problems encountered in their scientific activity receiving suggestions on how to try to solve them.
Topics
- Fundamentals and history of mass spectrometry of intact nucleic acids, proteins, and their complexes
- Fundamentals, history, and applications of top-down MS
- Fundamentals, history, and applications of native MS
- Sample preparation strategies
- On-line separations: chromatography, electrophoresis, ion mobility
- Instrumentation: MS and fragmentation strategies (collision-, electron-, and photon-based)
- Data analysis and bioinformatics for top-down and native MS
- MS and middle-/top-down MS of therapeutic proteins
- Imaging MS
- Native MS and native top-down MS of proteins from tissues
- MS of microbes and viruses
- MS and top-down MS of nucleic acids
- Integrating MS with structural biology
- Recent technological developments (including charge detection-MS, coupling MS with cryogenic microscopy)
IntSMS: The International School on Mass Spectrometry (IntSMS) - Erice (Sicily)
