ASMS CONFERENCE POSTERS 2024

Significance of Poster Sessions

Annual mass spectrometry poster sessions offer an unparalleled forum for rapid communication of novel analytical approaches, spanning ambient ionization, imaging, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, single-cell analysis, environmental monitoring, drug discovery, and advanced informatics. They foster immediate feedback, collaboration, and methodological benchmarking across academic, clinical, and industrial settings.

Overview of the Conference Program

The program is organized into themed tracks: ambient ionization methods (DART, DESI, MALDI), imaging mass spectrometry (instrumentation, applications in pathology, spatial omics), targeted and untargeted LC-MS workflows, data-independent and single-cell proteomics, ion mobility separations, metabolomics (clinical, exposomics, lipidomics), pharmaceutical analysis (ADME, DMPK, bioanalysis), environmental contaminant profiling (PFAS, micro/nanoplastics), and nucleic acid/oligonucleotide characterization.

Methodologies and Instrumentation

• Ambient techniques: DART, DESI, REIMS, SPMESH, nano-DESI, LA-REIMS
• Chromatography: HILIC, RP, UHPLC, GC×GC, CE, microflow/nanoflow LC
• Mass analyzers: Orbitrap (Exploris, Astral), Q-TOF, triple quadrupole, FT-ICR, MALDI-TOF, timsTOF (PASEF, diaPASEF), ion traps, charge detection MS
• Ion activation: CID, HCD, ECD, ETD, UVPD, EAD, SID, SID-TIMS
• Ion mobility: DTIMS, TWIMS, TIMS, cyclic IMS, SLIM
• Sample prep: robotic SPE, bead-based cleanup, microdroplet digestion, solid-phase microextraction, microchip CE-MS, micro-scaffold proteomics (MASPhos), S-trap, FASP, IA-LC
• Informatics: spectral libraries (Prosit, MassIVE), molecular networking, deep learning (Fiora, FragPipe, DeepCCS), retention time prediction, automated QC, multiomics integration platforms

Main Findings and Discussion

• Advanced ambient ionization and mem-braneless sampling achieve rapid screening of drugs, toxins, PFAS, and metabolites.
• Imaging strategies combine high-resolution MALDI, DESI, and ion mobility for spatially-resolved proteo- and metabolomics in cancer, neurological, and infectious disease tissues.
• DIA and single-cell workflows on new platforms (Orbitrap Astral, timsTOF Ultra, Evosep One) reach proteome depth of >10,000 proteins with high throughput.
• Ion mobility and MSn strategies enable isomer and PTM localization (glycan linkage, lipid double bonds, peptide epimers).
• Metabolomics tracks exposome-disease links, nutritional biomarkers, microbial-host interactions, and CYP-mediated drug metabolism with improved untargeted and targeted pipelines.
• Pharmaceutical analysis employs MAM (multi-attribute methods), microflow IP-RP, and multiplexed DIA-PRM for protein therapeutics characteri-zation and bioanalysis of oligonucleotides and small molecules.
• Environmental sessions highlight PFAS, microplastics, algal toxins, pesticides, and air-water contaminant mapping using advanced GC-MS, LC-MS, headspace-SIFT-MS, and pyrolysis-ion mobility MS.
• Informatics innovations include AI-assisted spectral deconvolution, library-free peptide ID, peptide fragmentation prediction, and multi-omics data fusion.

Practical Benefits

• Real-time screening of contaminants and clinical biomarkers at point of care.
• Deep proteome coverage and PTM mapping to accelerate drug target validation and disease mechanism studies.
• Single-cell analyses reveal heterogeneity in stem cells, tumors, and immune responses.
• Integrated workflows reduce sample preparation time and enhance reproducibility across labs.
• Environmental and exposome profiling informs risk assessment and regulatory decisions.

Future Trends and Opportunities

• Further integration of AI and machine learning to automate annotation, QA/QC, and multi-omics interpretation.
• Expansion of single-cell multi-modal platforms combining transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and spatial biology.
• Increased adoption of high-speed, high-throughput instruments (DIA-PASEF, Astral, CLEAR IMS) for clinical and industrial applications.
• Development of real-time, field-deployable mass spectrometry for environmental and forensic screening.
• Standardization of data formats and cloud-based repositories to support collaborative exposome and proteome research.

Conclusion

The breadth of methodologies and applications presented at the poster sessions underscores the dynamic evolution of mass spectrometry. From ambient ionization to single-cell proteomics and comprehensive exposome profiling, these innovations are shaping the future of biological, clinical, environmental, and industrial analyses.

References

Conference program and abstracts provided by ASM Tampa 2024