Highlights

Highlights from ASMS 2022

The 2022 American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) conference was held June 5–9 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minnesota.

The event had a great on-site audience and an overall pre-pandemic vibe—complete with a rich exhibition floor and the elaborate vendor hospitality suites for which the meeting is known. SCIEX contributed several presentations, activities and discussions, including a Sunday symposium, an Innovation showcase, and The Pursuit experience, to name just a few. Read all about our ASMS  activities below.

WATCH: Innovation showcase 2022

Watch here>

HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 1: SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2022

SCIEX kicked off the first day of ASMS 2022 at our SCIEX Sunday symposium, where we honored and celebrated the life of Henrietta Lacks and the insurmountable scientific progress that she has enabled. Held at the historic State Theatre in Minneapolis, the symposium had a fantastic lineup of speakers, including Jeri Lacks Whye and David Lacks Jr., who are the grandchildren of Henrietta Lacks.

Henrietta Lacks was a Black woman, born in 1920, whose cancer cells—code-named HeLa—were taken without her knowledge in 1951. These cells became one of the most important tools in medicine, with damaging consequences for her family, many of whom often struggled to access the healthcare advances her cells helped make possible. Unfortunately, there are numerous examples of historic research studies conducted on individuals—particularly those within minority communities—without their knowledge or consent.

At the symposium, the grandchildren of Henrietta Lacks, photographed here, shared how her legacy continues to influence research and innovation. From disease marker discovery to the development of precision medicines, Henrietta Lacks has had a life-changing impact on the pursuit of better outcomes. 

SCIEX purchased copies of book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to give to attendees, with all proceeds of the purchase directly supporting The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, which helps provide assistance to individuals and their families who have been directly impacted by similar research. The Foundation also seeks to promote public discourse about the role that contributions of biological materials play in scientific research and disease prevention, about issues related to consent and about disparities in access to health care and research benefits, particularly for minorities and underserved communities.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 2: MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2022

On day 2, Joe Fox, President of SCIEX, announced the launch of Zeno SWATH DIA (data independent acquisition), which represents a significant step forward in biomarker discovery and translation workflows.

“One of the biggest challenges our customers in the drug discovery and development industry face is time,” said Fox. “Zeno SWATH DIA addresses this by shortening run-times to as little as 5 minutes with minimal compromise in proteome coverage. This empowers customers to develop clinical tests for early detection of disease faster than ever before. Zeno SWATH DIA will also enable researchers to routinely quantify up to twice the number of plasma proteins than previously possible.”

Fox also announced the launch of SCIEX OS software 3.0, a software ecosystem built on accessibility, connectivity and integration.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 3: TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2022

On day 3, Farzana Azam, Director of Ideation at SCIEX, was featured in an engaging panel discussion titled ”Let’s Talk About It: DEI Strategies, Successes and Challenges.” Farzana discussed the diversity, equity and inclusion journey at SCIEX and Danaher and how it is a key focus area for us.  

Farzana also presented a discussion about diversity, inclusion and equity in STEM —”The pursuit of change in STEM”—and provided an exclusive first look at the outcomes of Extraordinary Grace campaign.

Afterwards, attendees had the opportunity to participate in The Pursuit, a cinematic immersive experience that sheds light on the stories and moments scientists have in their constant pursuit of progress. Individuals engaged with SCIEX through interactive booths where they shared and personalized their own pursuits. 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 4: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2022

Wednesday’s highlight was our keynote, “The Change Hypothesis: Pursuing diverse perspectives in STEM so extraordinary success can follow” – the first presentation ever given by a MetaHuman in ASMS history! This event provided an exclusive first look at the outcomes of our Extraordinary Grace campaign, where over 1,300 scientists advised Grace about the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM and how to handle challenges that will inevitably come up over the course of her career.

Following Grace’s presentation, Jeanita Pritchett, Ph.D., Senior Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Co-founder of Facilitate 2 Motivate, LLC, moderated a lively panel discussion featuring:

• Christina M. Jones, PhD, Co-founder of the Coalition of Black Mass Spectrometrists (CBM) and Partnerships & Outreach Strategist at NIST
• Astrophysicist Alfredo Carpineti, PhD, Chair & Founder of Pride in STEM and Senior Science Writer at IFLScience
• Arpana Vaniya, PhD, West Coast Metabolomics Center at University of California, Davis, MANA Early Career Members (ECM) council member, and Chair of WomiX: Womxn in Metabolomics
• Maryam Goudarzi, PhD, Senior Manager of Global Strategic Marketing for Metabolomics & Lipidomics at SCIEX and Metabolomics Association of North America (MANA) board member

HIGHLIGHTS FROM DAY 5:THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2022

We concluded our ASMS activities with a seminar featuring Xuezhi Bi, PhD, Principal Scientist & Associate Professor from A*STAR Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) and DUKE-NUS Medical School, National University of Singapore. His presentation highlighted comprehensive characterization of the most complex biotherapeutics achieved with the ZenoTOF 7600 system and electron activated dissociation (EAD) fragmentation to accelerate drug development timelines.

Customer Talk, We Listen

Customers talk, we listen

SCIEX OS SOFTWARE 3.0: Engineered to do more. Faster.

SCIEX OS software version 3.0 is now available. Customers told us they need to be more closely connected to their data, free of barriers and obstacles. With the launch of SCIEX OS software 3.0, we are able to deliver just that. We are providing improved efficiency with better-quality data across vast screening workflows, along with improved accessibility to SCIEX systems. Now, our customers can operate mass spectrometers across the SCIEX portfolio in 9 languages.

Confidently collaborate with colleagues without language constraints

SCIEX OS software is now available in simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Translate the SCIEX OS software user interface into local languages and connect your organization with various international laboratories. Enable the workflow flexibility you need to take advantage of new opportunities.

Increase efficiency and reduce method maintenance

SCIEX OS software 3.0 provides the platform for an exciting data-rich workflow: scout triggered MRM (stMRM). An stMRM license enables your SCIEX Triple Quad system to perform highly efficient, better-quality data acquisition across vast screening workflows and reduces demand for method maintenance through intelligent monitoring of designated marker analytes.

How it works: marker compounds trigger dependent transitions

With standard Scheduled MRM (sMRM), you define retention time (RT) windows for each transition in your method. Instead of using RT windows, stMRM uses exogenously spiked compounds, such as an internal standard or marker compound to trigger the acquisition of groups of dependent MRM transitions.

Benefits

• Easy method maintenance: Employ stMRM to stagger marker compounds across the run and trigger groups of dependent MRM transitions without using RT windows.
• Simple method transfer: With no dependence on RT windows, stMRM workflows are unaffected by changing LC conditions, in contrast to a standard sMRM method.

Learn more about SCIEX OS software 3.0 here>

Featured Article

Innovation Advisory Board members: keeping our promise to put customers first

January 2022 saw the kick-off of a series of SCIEX OS Software Advisory Board engagements in which members were invited to take part.
In the first half of the year, the engagements were focused on testing and finalizing features for the release of SCIEX OS software version 3.0, which launched in June 2022.

Reducing acquisition method maintenance

In this engagement, participants were asked to take part in concept testing for a new feature in SCIEX OS software called scout triggered MRM (stMRM). This feature removes the need to maintain accurate retention times for all analytes in an MRM acquisition method. stMRM uses a marker transition to trigger MS analysis for a group of dependent target analytes. Participants were shown mock-ups of the user interface in SCIEX OS software and a demonstration of a working prototype, and they were asked to share their impressions of how the feature may be useful and if the software user interface is intuitive. The feedback was positive, and included insights into which modes of MRM would be most useful and likely to be used along with how to improve the user interface. Thank you again, participants, for sharing your voices.

Making workstation management and compliance easy

We also introduced participants to the Central Administrator Console (CAC). The CAC helps users set up and deploy user roles, permissions, workgroups, and more across all systems using SCIEX OS software, regardless of instrument type, which has been a frequently requested feature. Participants were actively involved in helping to ensure functionality for regulatory compliance through live demonstrations of the beta version and trials in their labs, and they were pleased to be able to fully transfer their workflows from Analyst software to SCIEX OS software.

Enabling global collaboration

Support for local native languages in software can help increase the ability of users to understand and interpret mass spectrometer workflows and collaborate globally. We asked participants if they would be willing to participate in a beta test of SCIEX OS software that supports local native languages, and we received an enthusiastic response. Advisors were thrilled to see the software in their local language, and were able to provide feedback for improving translations in different areas of the software. Participants told us that this feature not only allows for greater collaboration opportunities across the globe, but also accelerates training. Thank you for helping to make SCIEX OS software a better global collaboration tool!

Not yet a member of the SCIEX OS Software Advisory Board? 

Does early involvement in new software capabilities interest you?  If any of the following applies to you, please consider joining the SCIEX OS Software Advisory Board to help shape the next generation of software: 

• You use mass spectrometry software from SCIEX for acquisition and/or data processing with either accurate or nominal mass data 
• You are proficient in acquisition method development, building batches or data review and processing 
• You are familiar with mass spectrometer acquisition and processing software other than SCIEX software 

-AND-

• You can participate in monthly interviews or concept evaluations—lasting 60–90 minutes (about 1½ hours)—via telephone or video conference  
• You are open to evaluating next-generation beta software over a 2-week period (setup and orientation included) 

Join the SCIEX OS Software Advisory Board

Please do not hesitate to contact us at  innovation@sciex.com if you have any questions about the program.  

The Innovation Advisory Board team at SCIEX 

Study Results

Assessing PFAS water testing readiness

What are PFAS?

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that are found in various industrial and consumer products.  PFAS break down very slowly over time, so they are routinely found in water, air and soil. Studies have also shown that PFAS bioaccumulate, and exposure to some PFAS may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals.

Why test for PFAS?

The demand for PFAS testing of drinking water, wastewater, soil and serum is expanding, with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issuing standard methods for testing PFAS in water, air, and soil. The prevalence of PFAS compounds in environmental samples requires an end-to-end workflow that minimizes sources of PFAS contamination throughout the method.  Moreover, such methods must produce consistent results from injection to injection at concentrations as low as parts per quadrillion (ppq).

New regulations

The EPA uses the fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5), published in December 2021, to collect occurrence data from public water systems for contaminants that are suspected to be present in drinking water, but do not have health-based standards set under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Under the new rule, most public water systems will be required to collect new data on 29 PFAS over a 12-month period from 2023 through 2025. The EPA anticipates using the data to understand the presence of PFAS in drinking water and potential patterns of contamination.  More recently, the EPA announced health advisory limits for 2 specific PFAS in drinking water in the range of 4 – 20 ppq – a daunting analytical challenge, but one that is aimed at ensuring a safe drinking water supply.

See survey results

Tips and Tricks

Tips and tricks: SCIEX OS software

#1 Copy/paste chromatogram and calibration curve: Did you know you can easily copy and paste your chromatograms and calibration curves from SCIEX OS software into any document to serve as graphics for your research? To copy a chromatogram, open the Peak Review pane in the Analytics workspace, select Options > Active Graph or All Graphs and then paste it where you wish. To copy a calibration curve, open the Calibration Curve pane in the Analytics workspace, select Options > Copy and then paste it directly into your document.

#2 Language packs: Did you know that SCIEX OS software is now available in 9 different languages? Science is collaborative, and researchers with diverse backgrounds and disciplines must be able to share and examine mass spectrometry data, sometimes globally. When a user’s native language is different from the language used in the software interface, misinterpretations can occur and collaborations can suffer. With SCIEX OS software, a simple change to a configuration setting enables interface features and functions to display in Chinese (simplified), Japanese, Korean, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese or English. This capability removes the constraints of geography and language and enables scientists to collaborate globally with confidence.

#3 Microsoft Defender Antivirus: Did you know that in SCIEX OS software, a user with administrative privileges can now enable and disable the execution of Microsoft Defender Antivirus and Windows Updates during interactive acquisitions? This feature is available in the Configuration workspace.