Bruker Daltonics Expands its MALDI Molecular Imager™ Integrated Systems Solution

Bruker Daltonics has added high performance automated tissue sample preparation and its unique ClassImaging™ algorithm to its MALDI Molecular Imager™ systems solution.

MALDI molecular imaging has emerged as a powerful research tool for biomarker detection, tissue classification and pathology research, as well as for imaging the distributions of drugs and metabolites in drug development. Bruker’s industry-leading MALDI Molecular Imager solution has now been further expanded with ImagePrep™, a proprietary automated tissue sample preparation device. Moreover, it now features next-generation flexImaging™ 2.0 software for data analysis and visualization, as well as for the statistical analysis of MALDI images. This enables the novel concept of ClassImaging, the molecular imaging equivalent of diagnostic multimarker panels.

Bruker Daltonics’ ImagePrep, announced at the 2007 Sanibel Island ASMS Conference on imaging mass spectrometry, is a MALDI matrix deposition device that uses novel vibrational vaporization. It introduces sensor-based quality control into the sample preparation process – essential for reproducible results from automatic push-button preparations (patents applied for). ImagePrep provides for both high resolution images (50 µm pixel size) and excellent, feature-rich mass spectra. Sample preparation is a critical step in MALDI imaging, and ImagePrep is a major advance for robust pathology research and in-vitro drug imaging.

MALDI Molecular Imager images are generated with Bruker’s high performance TOF/TOF mass spectrometers using proprietary 200 Hz smartbeam™ lasers (patents applied for) with a computer adjustable spot size down to 10 µm diameter, providing unmatched molecular image quality and information content. Images can be recorded from peptides and proteins in linear TOF mode up to ~20 kDa, and from drugs and their metabolites in TOF/TOF mode.

MALDI imaging of tissue samples with Bruker’s flexImaging 2.0 software allows visualization of the distribution of biomarkers within the tissue, using a color-coding system to highlight and map the locations of individual mass signals in the tissue. Scientists can just click on any image spot to see the full mass spectra of all measured molecules.

Integrating multivariate statistical classifications such as PCA or variance ranking, the MALDI Molecular Imager now offers Bruker’s unique ClassImaging as an extension to established ‘mass imaging’. ClassImaging (patent applied for) provides unique selectivity and image contrast to assist in the classification of tissue types, such as cancer biopsies, and can determine the class membership of tissue or biopsies samples.