Enhanced DESI MS performance and it’s impact on a broad range of applications; from forensics to biocataysis engineering
Advances in DESI MS imaging technology, which include a high-performance sprayer and heated transfer line, allow access to huge leaps in ease-of-use, reproducibility, and overall performance. Importantly, these benefits also come with inherent higher levels of sensitivity. These in turn unlock higher levels of mass resolution, at speed, bringing DESI imaging capabilities more in line with more routine analyses. The combined improvements show benefit over a wide range of applications from fingerprint analysis in forensics through to tissue analysis in biomedical research.
DESI MS is fast becoming a popular imaging option for both academic and industry labs. Direct infusion of biotransformation mass spectrometry (DiBT-MS) is a novel method for spotting crude cell lysates of biocatalysts onto nylon membrane for visualization of catalytic activity (typically late-stage functionalization). Not only can DiBT-MS provide quantitative results comparable with UV-LC-MS, but it has the additional benefit of being able to detect chromophore-absent compounds, such as aza-sugars produced for the development of cancer therapeutics and antivirals. Secondly, DiBT-IM-MS has been employed for the detection of regional isomers in hydroxylase biotransformations and as a benchmark tool for enzymatic evolution in collaboration with chemical biologists. Finally, this presentation addresses how the DESI coupled with SYNAPT G2-Si can be used for scaling up analysis of biocatalysis and metabolite production through collaboration with AstraZeneca and use of the ECHO liquid handler.
Key Learning Objectives:
- Learn how the enhanced performance of DESI MS can increase productivity, reproducibility, molecular information and image clarity.
- Discover the broad range of applications that DESI can serve.
- Find out how researchers are harnessing the power of high-throughput DESI MS analyses
Who Should Attend:
- Everyone with a passion for mass spectrometry, especially scientists seeking the latest advances in HRMS to accelerate their research
- Industrial scientists, academicians and students interested in mass spectrometry and imaging
- Mass spectrometrists and bioanalytical chemists
- PhD, post doc, PI’s, Group leaders, Heads of Research
Presenter: Dr. Ruth Knox (Postdoctoral Research Associate, Michael Barber Centre for Collaborative Mass Spectrometry, The University of Manchester)
Ruth Knox, Ph.D is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester. She is employed on an EPSRC/BBSRC prosperity partnership between the University of Manchester (under the supervision of Prof. Perdita Barran) and AstraZeneca. Dr. Knox completed her PhD in Analytical Chemistry at York University under the supervision of Prof. Derek Wilson (2019) with a focus on studying the dynamics and structure of enzymatic systems by millisecond-scale HDX-MS. As part of an NSERC CREATE grant, she has worked at Sanofi Pasteur on analytical method development and validation for vaccines. Her most recent work within the Barran research group is a multidisciplinary effort with other prosperity partnership colleagues to tackle novel drug discovery through biocatalysis, employing mass spectrometry techniques such as DESI-MS, DiBT-MS, ECHO-DESI-MS, ESI-IM-MS and HDX-MS. Dr. Knox’s research goals include a focus on innovation through repurposing of current lab instruments and consumables in hopes to reduce exponential cost inflation in drug discovery during scale up from academic to industrial labs.
Presenter: Mark Towers (Senior Scientist - MS Technology, Waters)
Mark Towers gained his PhD from the University of Reading in Bioanalytical chemistry on the Development of applications and techniques for UV-Liquid-MALDI-MS. Mark joined Waters over 10 years ago into the Scientific operations team as a senior scientist, working on high resolution mass spectrometry and imaging.
Mark’s primary area of focus has been surface analysis by desorption electrospray ionisation (DESI) with over 7 years experience and matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation for over 14 years, principally but not limited to tissue sections for the detection and distribution mapping of a wide range of molecules.
