Equipment of the Month: TimsTOF Flex

Mass Spectrometer Bruker's new timsTOF Flex is a high resolution Q-TOF type tandem mass spectrometer with ion mobility trap, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) and Electrospray (ESI) sources and coupling to a UHPLC separation.

This mass spectrometer with MALDI coupling, allows to work in MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MALDI-MSI) for in situ analysis of biological tissues in order to obtain distribution maps of lipid, metabolites and drugs. It is one of the few techniques that allows the construction of distribution maps of endogenous biological molecules (lipids, metabolites, proteins,... etc.) and exogenous (drugs and their metabolites) without prior marking, with a high resolution, both spatially and in mass. great sensitivity and speed. In addition to this, this dual source equipment allows working in UHPLC-ESI-QTOF mode, enabling the identification and quantification of the metabolite profile in tissue extracts, cells and biological fluids, using an additional dimension of ion separation through ion mobility. This last way of working allows the construction of libraries that facilitate and verify the identification of the metabolites present in the MALDI-MSI experiments, thus obtaining a higher level of identification.

In the Lipidomics and Metabolomics unit of the General Research Services of the UPV/EHU, we have been using this technique since 2012 in the context of various projects related to the early detection of diseases, such as melanoma, colon cancer, glioma , Alzheimer's, eye diseases etc. With this new mass spectrometer it will be possible to increase the speed of analysis, the number of metabolites detected and the maximum spatial resolution achievable in MALDI-MSI reaching the cellular level.

For more information, contact the Bizakaia Central Analysis Service-Lipomics and Metabolomics Unit: beatriz.abad@ehu.eus