In Beverly, the Shoe Fits for Bioanalysis!

Waters Staff

Reading Time: 3 minutes

This past May, many of the nation’s leading bioanalysts gathered in New England to share ideas and explore the latest advances in mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography, and sample preparation for large molecule quantification.

At Waters’ semi-annual bioanalysis workshop, scientists from across the U.S. trained on the latest mass spectrometry instrumentation at our demonstration center in Beverly, Mass., located in the Cummings Center – a site where, decades earlier, shoemaking was revolutionized and soda cans were transformed.

“The Shoe,” a.k.a. the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, is a historic landmark that redefined 20th century shoemaking with state-of-the-art machinery. Who would imagine that a century later the location would house high-performance mass spectrometers – today’s state-of-the-art analytical instruments that create, detect, and measure gas phase ions.

While the technology has changed dramatically, the drive, passion, and innovative spirit at The Shoe remains strong.

100 Cummings Center in Beverly, MA – currently home to Waters’ Mass Spectrometry Demo Facility – was formerly known as “The Shoe,” one of the largest employers in Massachusetts in the mid-20th century. Now a historic landmark and once home to inventors creating shoemaking equipment, soda can pop-tops, and the glue gun, the site now invites scientists to explore how revolutionary mass spectrometry can solve their toughest analytical challenges. Sources: Cummings Properties, Britannica Kids

 

Waters ionKey™ with its novel microfluidic platform integrates ultra-performance liquid chromatography separation into the source of the mass spectrometer, delivering enhanced MS performance with the turn of a key.

The recent bioanalytical workshop focused on novel LC-MS tools and strategies for accurate, reproducible quantification of biotherapeutics and biomarkers.

Topics of discussion included:

High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for quantitation, highlighting outstanding gains in sensitivity and selectivity with Tof-MRM

High-sensitivity intact mass analysis of antibodies with a novel microfluidic LC-MS/MS platform

Achieving standardization in protein bioanalysis workflows

  • In this session, attendees discussed the implementation and benefits of generic, kit-based methods to simplify and standardize protein quantification via the surrogate peptide approach.
  • The kit-based method delivered detection limits as low as 10 ng/mL of infliximab from 35 µL of plasma. Single-digit accuracy and precision were routinely achieved for a range of monoclonal antibodies.
  • Total antibody ADC quantification using a kit-based approach was demonstrated.
  • Download our comprehensive application notebook.

Personally I’m fascinated by history and what we might learn by listening to its ancient whispers. What would the virtual walls and 20th century inventors of 100 Cummings Center say to the May workshop’s gathering of scientists?

Perhaps… “How can you possibly measure the molecules of these extraordinary medicines with that machine?” or “Impressive work on the treatment of disease – be sure to pursue your dreams and honor your creativity as you continue to push the boundaries of science and technology.”

Or perhaps they would simply say… “By the way…where did you get those great shoes?”

 

To learn more about Waters novel analytical solutions for large molecule bioanalysis, check out our DMPK microsite.