TAKING A METABOLOMICS APPROACH TO DRUG DETECTION Gaining an insight into doping in sports and recreational drug use Pages 26–27 HIGH THROUGHPUT PROTEOMICS WITH SCANNING SWATH® ACQUISITION The next chapter in the SWATH story Pages 12–13 MASS SPECTROMETRY AT THE SPEED OF SOUND Echo MS – the future of contactless sampling Pages 1

SCIEX VISION SCIEX has developed a strong reputation as a pioneer of novel technologies over the years, pushing the boundaries of mass spectrometry in terms of fundamentals like speed, sensitivity and specificity. These advances have been crucial to expanding the use of MS across various markets but, in today’s fast-paced environment, simply doing the same things better isn’t always enough. To use a cliché, we need to think outside the box. In this case, the ‘box’ is the MS system, and we need to look more closely at how people want to use our instruments, and develop solutions to better serve...

CONTENTS Foreword Redesigning forensic investigations Perfecting protein analysis with mass spec Efficient detection of environmental pollutants When only the highest sensitivity and accuracy will do High throughput proteomics with Scanning SWATH Acquisition 12 – 13 Open your eyes to the potential of mass spec Mass spectrometry at the speed of sound Searching for immunotherapeutic drug targets Food, glorious food New tools for biomedical proteomics A cleaner and safer future Taking a metabolomics approach to drug detection Gel-free biopharmaceutical analysis The evolution of cannabis testing...

FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS Timothy Fassette, Senior Forensic Toxicologist, Henderson Police Department Crime Laboratory Henderson Police Department Crime Laboratory in Southern Nevada, USA, has completely redesigned the way its toxicology laboratory investigates cases of suspected ‘driving under the influence’ (DUI), leading the way forward for other testing facilities. The laboratory provides DUI services for a population of around 600,000 across various cities, handling around 800 samples a year. Senior Forensic Toxicologist Timothy Fassette explained how the change came about: “Under the old...

following BAC analysis. Now, we wanted to test 100 % of the samples, but without introducing huge turnaround times or consuming our entire budget. The challenge was figuring out how to cost-effectively scale up testing, as our existing screening method – a 12-panel ELISA followed by full scan GC-MS analysis – was going to be wholly inefficient for the more comprehensive policy. It would be too costly to implement, may not detect very low levels of some drugs and, as ELISA is non-specific, may result in false-positive results requiring further investigation, increasing turnaround times. The method...

PROTEIN ANALYSIS WITH MASS SPEC Rachel Rowlinson, Specialist in Protein Mass Spectrometry at Peak Proteins Peak Proteins, based in Cheshire, UK, is a company with decades of experience in protein science, using its extensive knowledge to support a wide range of customer projects. Rachel Rowlinson, Specialist in Protein Mass Spectrometry at Peak Proteins, discussed how mass spectrometry assists the company’s work and enables it to offer a precise and reliable means of investigating proteomics and protein characteristics. She explained: “Peak Proteins was founded five years ago, and our main focus...

QTOF system is great too, as you really get the resolution, which is fantastic for what we do. It’s such a simple process, when I want to use the system, it’s just a case of walking up to the instrument and deciding which analysis I want to do; at the click of a button, everything else is done for you, including the calibration.” Rachel continued: “Our throughput varies depending on what projects we have on at any time; some weeks we can perform 10 to 20 intact masses, other weeks it can be more. We probably run peptide mapping analysis around 20 to 30 times, but there is the capability to run...

DETECTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS Professor Kiwao Kadokami, Faculty of Environmental Engineering at the University of Kitakyushu The Faculty of Environmental Engineering at the University of Kitakyushu in Fukuoka, Japan, has the outward looking vision ‘to walk the regions, nurture the environment, connect with the world’, and encourages students to develop a global outlook on environmental concerns. After retiring from the university in March 2016, Professor Kiwao Kadokami continues to teach and conduct research there as a Specially Appointed Professor. He explained his background: “I have...

under standardized device settings – are registered in the database. Samples can then be measured using the same settings to provide reliable identification and quantification by reference to the database. New substances can easily be added, and there is no theoretical limit to the number of substances that can be included. With no need for calibration standards, running costs are low, and even difficult to obtain substances can be analyzed. Professor Kadokami explained: “About 15 years ago, I created AIQS-GC, based on GC-MS. It has become widely recognized, adopted by the Japanese Industrial...

HIGHEST SENSITIVITY AND ACCURACY PK/PD studies are an important step in the drug discovery and development workflow. Scientists at Boehringer Ingelheim rely on mass spectrometry for these and other investigations to evaluate potential new therapies, employing both quadrupole time-offlight and triple quadrupole technologies. Boehringer Ingelheim is a global pharmaceutical company committed to research and development, manufacturing and marketing of novel human and veterinary medicines. A crucial step in the development of new therapies is evaluating the properties of potential drugs, which is...

largely small biotechnology companies that engaged in early stage oligonucleotide drug development, and they tended to use LC-UV or fluorescence methods, or ELISAs, as these did not require significant investment in high tech instrumentation or staff with specialist expertise. That’s history now. Today, large pharma companies are focused on oligonucleotides, and interest is turning to high resolution mass spec as the technique of choice. In our department, we rely on the QTOFs for simultaneous quantification and metabolic profiling of oligonucleotides; the high resolution and mass accuracy of...