In recent years, it has not been unusual for conferences and exhibitions to be disappointing to attendees and exhibitors alike because of logistical decisions, uninteresting technical programs or a paucity of new product introductions or announcements, with predicable declines in attendance. The 62nd Annual Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, sponsored by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), which took place in Baltimore, Maryland, from June 15 to 19 was a welcome exception.

The Baltimore Convention Center was an excellent venue, as was the Baltimore Hilton Hotel where hospitality suites were conveniently located. The weather was pleasant, if a bit warm and humid, and most of all the program was excellent. Attendance was a near record at 6,697, a 5% increase from last year’s conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota (see IBO 6/15/14). The crowds at the Sunday evening lectures and welcome reception were impressive, as was the attendance at Saturday and Sunday’s user meetings.

The combination of user meetings, workshops, breakfast seminars, 200 oral presentations and over 2,500 poster presentations provided attendees with information on a broad range of MS technologies and applications across a plethora of disciplines. Attendees were bombarded with new information and entertained by sponsors eager to impress potential customers with their latest innovations. There were also seven media events for the trade press and financial analysts interested in MS industry developments.

Twelve new MS systems were introduced (see page 3). These included four Q-TOF MS systems, three triple-quadrupole LC/MS and three triple-quadrupole GC/MS systems, one single-quadrupole LC/MS and a new member of the Orbitrap MS family. Each new product represented a improvement in performance for its MS category, which included products aimed at both the most demanding applications as well as for more routine applications. These new additions both raised the level of performance and provided a broader range of product configurations that can address the full scope of user requirements.

In addition to the product introductions, a number of software upgrades and innovations were announced, generally with a focus on the management and analysis of the “big data” generated by the latest generation of MS systems.

All in all, ASMS provided a window into the dynamic status of an industry that is bounding forward with innovative solutions for some of today’s most daunting lab challenges. It also highlighted the intense competitive climate that drives the MS market. One can expect more of the same next year when ASMS holds its annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri, from May 31 to June 4.