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Oct 8, 2019 | Blogs, Clinical | 0 comments
The journey to mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) adoption from immunoassay can be complicated, but certainly rewarding. While immunoassay has been considered the default methodology for decades, they can be susceptible to interferences and cross-reactivity, especially for biological compounds that exhibit similar chemical structures. Moreover, comparisons between manufacturers can give rise to differences in results when testing for the same analyte due to variations in antibody production, causing unwanted bias during evaluation of an assay.
An increasing number of clinical laboratories around the world have begun to consider and begin the journey of developing their own methodology based on mass spectrometry. There are a number of advantages with the LC-MS/MS approach: high-performance separation, identification, and quantification of small molecules, peptides, and proteins routinely tested in a biochemistry laboratory. The ability to quickly adapt to new and emerging trends in laboratory testing, as well as the freedom to troubleshoot their own methods are a huge advantage.
Besides excellent reproducibility and specificity, LC-MS/MS has the capacity for multiplexing, high-throughput, and provides significant cost savings as users implement their own Lab Developed Tests. These features are some of the reasons for the increasing popularity of mass spectrometry adoption, even in the face of the need for specialized and specifically-trained technicians and its own set of analytical challenges.
Mass spectrometry is becoming the gold standard for quantification. The cost savings for LC-MS/MS alone may not be enough, but when coupled with the three “Ss”: Speed, Sensitivity, and Selectivity, the potentials become much clearer. The journey has helped improve the practice of medicine and enabled physicians to provide better patient care and even allowed for the development of precision diagnostics.
With the ever-present challenges associated with laboratory test reimbursement, mass spectrometry can provide a solution that saves money and provides multiple benefits to the patient and the healthcare system.
Dr. Caroline Le Goff, a Clinical Biochemist from the University of Liège recently participated in a webinar with us, detailing her experience in the journey from immunoassay to mass spectrometry adoption.
Come and discover her experiences throughout the journey.
Lab Developed Tests for the clinical laboratory >
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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