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Nov 15, 2016 | Blogs, Technology | 0 comments
Do you work in a lab handling precious samples yet, hesitant to make the move to mass spectrometry? Many laboratories just like yours continue to conduct sample analysis using ELISA assays, PCR scans, and amino acid tests because of their effectiveness. These processes work, so why change? Well, these type of analytical experiments can report false positive and negative results. You have trained your staff, know the process, and fingers crossed, not too many user errors have compromised analysis.
However, just because traditional assays can perform basic analysis doesn’t mean they are letting your lab live up to its full potential. Concerns about workflow disruption, complicated equipment, costs, and training are quite common. Therefore, we felt it prudent to put your worries to rest with these five common mass spec misconceptions.
1. Mass Spec is Too ComplicatedFear and excitement can be high when your staff has never before used mass spec instruments. However, training and implementation can happen with little disruption to your lab’s daily workflow. Check out the latest online training courses which are designed for new to mass spec and experienced users >
Customers who have made the transition from traditional assays to mass spectrometry, frequently comment on the time savings they have made by switching to LC-MS/MS. Therefore, freeing up their staff for other pertinent projects.
2. Mass Specs Are Too BigMore and more, high throughput mass specs are designed to maximize lab space without compromising data integrity. Take the X500R for example. This is the most compact, high-throughput mass spec on the market. Small enough to fit on a desktop it is also straightforward and easy to use.
In Stephanie’s story, you can learn what happens when a food testing lab discovers a new pesticide metabolite found in corn is making kids sick. Requests for re-testing and new analysis come in but traditional methods are unable to manage the workflow. The X500R is the right solution because of its high-resolution capabilities, compactness, and ability to manage routine and not so routine samples without taking up so much space.
3. Too ExpensiveYou can do more testing with mass spec technology and improve efficiencies even more by condensing multiple tests into one. Now is the time to expand your lab’s capabilities as you investigate a huge range omics, lipidomics, pharma, food, environmental, and forensics analytical methods.
Take food testing, for example. Traditional assays are known for producing false negatives and positives due to limited sensitivity and selectivity forcing re-tests. When testing for allergens, Mass Spectrometry is capable of multi-allergen screening whereas ELISA requires separate test kits.
4. Testing Takes Too LongAs we mentioned before, assays require separate kits for multiple allergens. Using mass spec, however, you can screen for multiple allergens in a single run. You can read more about this process in the following application note which describes how mass spectrometry analysis offers rapid allergen detection in wine samples and cuts analysis time in half in comparison to ELISA and PCR tests.
5. We use GC-MS/MS, and it Works FinePerhaps you already use mass spectrometry but hesitant to make the leap from GC-MS to LC-MS/MS? Don’t be. Although effective, GC involves complicated sample prep technique and is labor intensive. The need for more chemicals and human interaction also drive up your costs and limit testing to finite amounts of compounds. Using LC-MS/MS opens your lab up to more extensive molecule tests so you can enhance and accelerate your environmental and food testing.
Both GC-MS and LC-MS/MS are powerful analytical tools. However, LC-MS/MS lends greater capabilities for classifying analytes in different compound classes in a single run. Even when it comes to forensics, many toxicological analyses are being transferred from GC-MS to LC-MS/MS to take advantage of:
You can read more about these benefits in the following application note, Making the Leap to LC-MS/MS: Enhancing and Accelerating Analysis for Forensic Toxicology Applications.
Summary: It’s time to make the transition and join a growing community of researchers throughout the world who are making mass spectrometry part of their routine testing requirements. From verifying and validating biomarkers to improving identification of contaminants in food analysis, and discovering new drug candidates, mass spectrometry plays a massive role in peoples’ everyday lives. Why not make it part of yours?
The Echo® MS+ system is a novel platform for Acoustic Ejection Mass Spectrometry (AEMS) and combines the speed of acoustic sampling with the selectivity of mass spectrometry. This platform has been designed for high throughput analysis of small and large molecules. The technology combines Acoustic Droplet Ejection (ADE), an Open Port Interface (OPI) and could be coupled with the SCIEX Triple Quad 6500+ system or the ZenoTOF 7600 system.
The Echo® MS+ system comprises of an open-port interface (OPI) and acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) module which could be coupled with a mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer could either be a SCIEX Triple Quad 6500+ system or the ZenoTOF 7600 system. This non-liquid chromatography based; high-throughput screening platform enables rapid analysis of compounds at speeds of up to 1 sample/second.
The ability to consistently achieve reproducible results on many complex samples across multiple days is critical to a routine clinical laboratory. Laboratories relying on analytical instrumentation require stability and robustness to perform a variety of screening and confirmatory assays with confidence. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has become the preferred analytical method in the clinical laboratory to reliably perform clinical testing as it provides best-in-class performance and reliability for the most challenging assays. LC-MS/MS offers the required levels of sensitivity and specificity for the detection and quantitation of molecules from complex biological samples, helping laboratories deliver highly accurate data for a variety of clinically relevant analytes across a wide range of assays.
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