Advancing discoveries in healthy aging

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics is one of the most powerful scientific tools available to measure the behavior of proteins, metabolites and lipid molecules. The technology allows measurement of the molecules over time, giving insight into the fundamental molecular causes of disease. 

Complete proteome coverage presents a challenge because of the limited sensitivity and resolution of mass spectrometers. The novel design of the Bruker timsTOF Pro features parallel accumulation-serial fragmentation (PASEF^®) technology to provide extremely high speed and high sensitivity to reach new analytical depths in shotgun proteomics.

Clinical and biological phenotypes arise from the composition of biomolecules and their organization in tissue and cells. This presents two related challenges – firstly defining the type of molecular information needed and secondly creating the tools and methods required for measurement and analysis. Their combined development will, in future, give scientists the tools to make new predictions from molecular measurements. Advances in sample preparation, instrumentation and bioinformatics are paving the way towards a more comprehensive understanding of post-translational regulation, cell signaling and protein interactions.

The timsTOF Pro provides the high-throughput technology needed to generate large scale datasets in a shorter timeframe than before, increasing the depth and quality of experiments. The acquisition time of samples using the previous method of LC-MS ranges from five minutes to one hour. The use of the timsTOF Pro gives the flexibility to control speed and sensitivity to accommodate a wide range of conditions.

The long-term signal stability of the timsTOF Pro is essential. Dr. Webb comments: “The stability of the Bruker instrument is one of its key selling points. Long periods of consistent signal are important. I truly believe this is one of the most fundamental advances in the MS field in the past 15 years, which is going to have a significant impact on the clinical biomarker space.

“Our work is focused on addressing some of the biggest – and growing – health challenges facing humanity. The timsTOF Pro is set to play a key role in how we proceed in the proteomics research of the future.”