SUPER Mass Spec

What is a SUPER Mass Spec™?

SUPER Mass Spec™ defines a new category of mass spectrometers in which ions produced by a single ion source are processed in parallel by a network of mass spectrometers. This stands in contrast to the serial processing of ions that is typically performed by conventional mass spectrometers.

In a SUPER Mass Spec™, each cluster of mass spectrometers (a set of mass spectrometers with identical hardware that work together as a single system) operate in parallel, and therefore, sensitivity, scan speed, and dynamic range of each cluster is independently scalable. In addition, a SUPER Mass Spec™ allows for simultaneous analysis of a single sample with different clusters of mass spectrometers, each cluster employing a different type of mass spectrometry technology, such as triple quadrupole, time of flight, or trapping mass analyzers.

This provides a multidimensional view of highly complex samples for cross examination and cross verification of mass spectrometry data, and promotes deep proteome coverage and quantitative data completeness in bottom-up proteomics workflows.

Mini
Mass Spec

Lab
Mass Spec

SUPER
Mass Spec

What is the need?

In drug and biomarker discovery, millions of samples must be rapidly and accurately analyzed using mass spectrometry. However researchers are severely constrained by the slow speed of today’s mass spectrometry workflows, which suffer from a fundamental tradeoff between sensitivity and speed. This constraint makes timely analysis of the millions of samples that are currently sitting in biobanks impossible —many answers are sitting in those biobanks but can’t be accessed in a practical way.

We are currently living in a time when more and more, scientists are focused on personalized medicine. And the public at large is expecting better solutions to big health problems - a cure for cancer or at a minimum, a way to identify the existence of disease before symptoms emerge and in time for effective treatments.

If we could rapidly quantify proteins in a large number of samples with deep coverage, we would be able to answer important questions about human health and disease. If we could rapidly, efficiently, and accurately analyze the millions of samples sitting in biobanks today, our scientific community would identify countless biomarkers that could fundamentally change the way we identify and treat disease.
 
Imagine a world where a routine blood test panel would include early screening of cancers and other life threatening disease —years before symptoms emerge.
 
Imagine the improved efficiencies and cost reductions to our health care system. Image the millions of lives that would be saved.