TIMSTOF Flex MALDI-2: A Quadrupole TOF instrument capable of rapid MALDI MS imaging with high spatial resolution, laser post-ionisation and ion mobility separation

Description

Our large-scale mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) studies require high throughput, high spatial resolution MSI analysis of multiple tissue sections, on multiple slides. Currently, of commercially available MSI instruments, matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation (MALDI) provides the best combination of spatial resolution and throughput. Crucially, high sensitivity for both lipids and metabolites must also be achieved. MALDI-2 has recently been shown to provide unrivalled limit-of-detection for a range of lipid and metabolite classes at high spatial resolution. The Bruker timsTOF Flex MALDI-2 instrument is the only commercially available instrument to feature MALDI-2 post ionisation and 5µm pixel size MSI Lot 1: Matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation (MALDI) provides the highest commercially available spatial resolution for high throughput multi-slide analysis of biological samples by MSI. Recent advances in laser post-ionisation, termed MALDI-2, have demonstrated significant improvement in limit-of-detection for a range of analyte classes. The timsToF Flex MALDI-2 microGRID instrument should feature a dual electrospray and MALDI MSI ion source. It should feature MALDI-2 laser post-ionisation functionality and 5 µm pixel size microGRID technology. It should provide 60,000 mass resolving power and scan rates of 20Hz. The instrument should also provide trapped ion mobility separation technology (TIMS) MSI functionality.