With a purchase price of euro 800,000 and funded by the German Research Council, this new equipment will make Giessen University one of the best-equipped bio-analysis facilities in Europe
Thermo Electron has delivered its state-of-the-art Finnigan LTQ FT mass spectrometer to the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany.
With a purchase price of euro 800,000 and funded by the German Research Council, this new equipment will make Giessen University a research centre of excellence and one of the best-equipped bio-analysis facilities in Europe.
Bernhard Spengler, head of the mass spectrometry research group within the University's institute of inorganic and analytical chemistry, and his team will be using the Finnigan LTQ FT to formulate and develop new methods of determining the composition of different compounds in the bio-sciences, including immunology, allergology and cancer research.
For example, one project will be concentrating on quantifying and determining more directly and accurately the nature of proteins in cancer cells.
The Finnigan LTQ FT combines the most advanced ion trap and fourier transform ICR technologies making high resolution, accurate mass determinations and MSn available for high throughput analysis on a single instrument.
Experiments have shown that the structure and composition of compounds can be determined with ten times better mass accuracy than other available methods.
The Finnigan LTQ FT consists of three major components: a new generation ion trap mass spectrometer, a high transmission ion guidance system, and an ICR analyser based on a 7T superconductive magnet.
The ionisation of samples is performed by using either an electrospray, nanospray or AP Maldi ion source.
The ions are then gathered in the ion trap, sorted and targeted in small characteristic units.
Finally the masses of these compounds are determined in the FTICR-MS.
Because the determination of accurate mass is based on the measurement of single ion species, components of a mixture can be characterised simultaneously, eliminating the need for further development or analysis time. The analytical power of the Finnigan LTQ FT will play a major role in accelerating research and development in proteomics and metabolic profiling.
It will equally contribute towards the advancement of medical science and pharmaceutical drug discovery.
