Thermo Electron Continues to Innovate in Mass Spectrometry and Chromatography

New Benchmarks for Speed, Sensitivity and Performance Are Accelerating the Adoption of Mass Spectrometry in Clinical, Biotech, Environmental and Pharmaceutical Applications.

Thermo Electron Corporation (NYSE: TMO), the world leader in analytical instruments, has launched several new liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) advancements at the ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry in Seattle, Washington this week: the Accela™ High Speed Chromatography System, the LTQ XL™ Linear Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer with Electron Transfer Dissociation (ETD) for proteomics, the TSQ Quantum™ Access Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer and patented FAIMS Technology for high sensitivity LC/MS/MS quantitation. These new products, along with novel software solutions also being launched, set new benchmarks for speed, sensitivity and performance and further accelerate adoption of Thermo’s mass spectrometry technology among commercial and academic researchers in the clinical, biotech, environmental and pharmaceutical fields.

“Our customers demand solutions that dramatically streamline or automate their workflows, rapidly analyze volumes of data, and pave the way for the introduction of mass spectrometry beyond the research lab into hospitals, clinics and smaller lab settings around the world,” said Ian Jardine, vice president, global research and development, Thermo Electron. “Over the past 12 months, no company has delivered mass spectrometry innovation at a faster pace than Thermo, and our goal is to continue setting the bar for performance for years to come.”

Thermo’s new advancements launched at ASMS include:

New Accela High Speed Chromatography System is designed to operate from conventional to ultra-high pressures, providing fast, efficient separations that seamlessly integrate with Thermo’s ultra fast scanning mass spectrometers. Accela lets users achieve shorter run times with excellent peak symmetry and superior data quality. The system is designed to meet the analytical needs of LC and LC/MS users working in drug development, discovery, QA/QC, academic, and food and beverage laboratories.

New LTQ XL Linear Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer significantly extends the benefits of Thermo’s successful LCQ/LTQ family of ion trap mass spectrometers. The system is designed for drug discovery and proteomic applications, specifically to accelerate screening for drugs, their metabolites, and degradation products. The new instrument includes a number of new advanced features including the optional and revolutionary ETD technique for 1) mapping of post-translational modification (PTM) sites, 2) allowing more comprehensive proteomic sample profiling, and 3) fragmenting and analyzing large peptide fragments as well as intact proteins.

New TSQ Quantum Access Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer is designed for fast, efficient and confident sample analysis in the environmental and food safety markets. It features QED-MS/MS (Quantitation Enhanced by Data-dependant MS/MS) for simultaneously performing quantitative analysis and generating rich product ion spectra for compound identification.

New FAIMS (High-Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry) technology for high-sensitivity bioanalysis, is an option available with Thermo’s TSQ Quantum™ triple quadrupole mass spectrometers. Developed through the R&D efforts at Ionalytics, which Thermo acquired in August of 2005, the patented technology has been demonstrated to help in the development of LC/MS/MS methods for drug quantitation by improving analyte selectivity in complex sample analyses. Jardine continued, “We believe the addition of FAIMS will contribute tremendously to our customer's ability to push their detection limits even further. This is critical to the acceleration of drug discovery research.”

New advanced software packages, including SIEVE, support the critical discovery of protein biomarkers using Thermo’s mass spectrometers. Created in collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital at the Biomarker Research Initiatives in Mass Spectrometry (BRIMS) center, SIEVE is a label-free differential expression analysis software offering an automated workflow to compare LC/MS analyses from large sample populations. Combined with the advanced capabilities of LTQ FT Ultra, as well as LTQ Orbitrap™, the system provides exceptional high-resolution and accurate mass data that allows for automated data processing to conclusively identify and quantitate new protein biomarkers. Thermo’s other software introductions include: the powerful new MetWorks™ integrated acquisition and analysis; BioWorks™ 3.3 for quantitative proteomics; ProSightPC™; as well as highly stable software like QuickQuan™, LCQUAN™ 2.5, Watson™ LIMS and Galileo LIMS.

For more information visit the article webpage.