Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography - triple quadrupole mass spectrometer

• Subject Area: Biological Chemistry and Food Chemistry
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 560842436

The Bavarian Center for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry (BayBioMS) is a science and technology platform of the Technical University of Munich that provides state-of-the-art mass spectrometry in the field of proteomics and metabolomics. BayBioMS conducts research at the highest level together with scientists from the TUM. The research is highly diverse and includes areas such as medicine, plant, life and nutritional sciences. Every year, around 30 scientific publications are published with BayBioMS involvement and 90 new projects are launched. In order to strengthen targeted metabolomics at BayBioMS, we are applying for a new, more sensitive mass spectrometer with a large linear range for the quantification of known metabolites. The current triple quadrupole mass spectrometer was put into operation at TUM in 2010 and has been operated at BayBioMS since 2020. Since 2020, the instrument has provided data for 16 publications, which have been published in high-ranking journals such as Nature, Nature Cancer, Nature Communications and Cell Host and Microbe, among others. Due to the advanced age of the device, it can be assumed that expensive repairs are becoming more frequent and that they are no longer economical. However, the quantification of metabolites is an important at BayBioMS, which is why a new mass spectrometer is needed. Due to the diverse questions and sample types, a device with a large dynamic range is requested so that a broad concentration range can be covered. Recently, there has been an increasing number of requests to measure human biopsies. For this type of analysis with very small sample material, a mass spectrometer with a higher sensitivity is required. Furthermore, there is a constant demand for lipid measurements, which is why the requested device is also to be used for targeted lipidomics. Here, ion mobility separates lipid classes in the gas phase and enables the quantitation in a high-throughput manner. There is a strong demand at BayBioMS to quantify metabolites of primary metabolic pathways. For these highly polar metabolites that are difficult to separate biocompatible UHPLCs and columns have recently offered significantly better performance, which is why an UHPLC with biocompatible properties is being requested. There is also a trend towards offering multi-methods for a large number of metabolites. Here, it is advantageous to use mass spectrometers that can change polarity within milliseconds and analyze hundreds of metabolites with one run.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Ultrahochleistungs-Flüssigkeitschromatographie -Triple Quadrupol Massenspektrometer
• Instrumentation Group: 1700 Massenspektrometer
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Corinna Dawid