Groundbreaking Metabolomics and Lipidomics Research

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc announced that the Human Nutrition Research (HNR) unit of the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Cambridge, UK, has selected the Thermo Scientific LTQ Orbitrap Velos, MALDI LTQ Orbitrap XL and Exactive mass spectrometers.

The Bioanalytical Sciences division at HNR, led by Professor Dietrich Volmer, is a centre of excellence for developing innovative approaches to measure biomarkers for processes such as insulin resistance, energy expenditure and the availability of dietary nutrients within the body. Professor Volmer’s goal is to build a unique population-based lipidomics platform allowing the application of studies of 10,000 or more samples. This platform will be used to establish biomarkers of nutritional intake, health and disease.

Professor Volmer recently received an award of £2 million from a translational medicine funding call of the MRC to establish the Cambridge Lipidomics Biomarker Research Initiative (CLBRI) within his research division. The MRC has recently purchased four mass spectrometers based on Orbitrap technology: an LTQ Orbitrap Velos™ biomarker discovery platform, a MALDI LTQ Orbitrap XL™ instrument as well as two Exactive™ benchtop liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) systems. The Exactive instruments will be used in the high-throughput biomarker screening stages of the CLBRI projects, whereas the Orbitrap Velos will be applied to
more detailed structural identification research such as those performed in biomarker qualification applications.

The MALDI LTQ Orbitrap XL provides unparalleled sensitivity for MSn analyses, a rapid scan rate, high mass accuracy and up to 100k resolving power. This enables the MRC to perform targeted analysis of phospholipids as well as unbiased profiling. The ability to apply both strategies in one experiment is an important step forward in the comprehensive analysis of the metabolome and the lipidome in particular. The Thermo Scientific Exactive is fast, easy-to-use and cost-effective to operate, making it an ideal instrument for nonexperts and experienced mass spectrometry users. Using high-resolution mass spectrometry with instruments capable of measuring m/z ratios with relative mass measurement uncertainties of 1 ppm or less and sufficient scan speeds, researchers at the MRC are able to combine two strategies, allowing unbiased profiling of biological samples and targeted analysis of specific compounds in a single analysis without compromise.