Abstract
Thermo Fisher’s Cascadion clinical mass spec system debuted to much fanfare in 2017.
In the last decade, mass spectrometry has become orders of magnitudes better, and has changed the landscape dramatically, notes Shankar Subramaniam, Ph.D., chair and professor of Bioengineering University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
Scott Kuzdzal, Ph.D., vice president of marketing of Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, agrees. He told Clinical OMICs that “greater mass accuracy stability and ease of use of Quadrupole Time-of-Flight (QTOF) and triple quad mass spectrometers have opened up metabolomics to the masses.” Not only that, but the synergy of different technologies or methods (e.g. liquid chromatography—mass spectrometry (LCMS) and gas chromatography—mass spec-trometry (GCMS) or targeted and non-targeted approaches) has increased. Lastly, software platforms have become unified and a single informatics platform such as Shimadzu LabSolutions can be used across many different instrument types.
Some might suggest that depending on the specifics of the experiment—for example whether more specificity or higher resolution are desired—different mass spec platforms should be employed. For routine clinical laboratory use, Thermo Fisher notes that it has spent a decade working on a clinical mass spec solution. Pete Van Overwalle, senior manager of market development at Thermo, said that the Cascadion SM Clinical Analyzer is the first all-in-one clinical analyzer with LC-MS/MS technology. The goal behind the fully automated Cascadion analyzer is to allow use by non-experts in a variety of settings, including within hospital laboratories for frequently ordered tests such as Vitamin D assays and immunosuppressant panels.
Informatics platforms are also advancing by integrating multiple ‘omics datasets, including metabolomics, proteomics, fluxomics and transcriptomics. Kuzdzal points to “Garuda” (www.garuda-alliance.org) as an example of an open, community-driven, and common platform for systems biology and ’omics. With all of these recent advancements in MS technology, metabolomics researchers are better prepared than ever to answer the most complex questions about human cancer biology.