Company Announcements

Ascenion GmbH acquired shares in Photonion GmbH, a company founded by scientists from Helmholtz Zentrum München, as well as Airsense Analytics GmbH and Tofwerk AG. Photonion is developing an MS system for direct analysis of complex organic materials, liquids and gases that utilizes a soft photoionization source based on vacuum UV light sources.

Under a collaboration and reseller agreement, PerkinElmer is developing a single quadrupole MS for incorporation into Gilson’s LC and fraction collection technology.

ALERT B&C, a developer of MS technology for security applications, ceased operation in December 2009.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is collaborating with Expression Pathology to apply its MS technology and Expression Pathology’s laser microdissection and sample-processing technologies to the measurement of cancer-related proteins in FFPE tissue.

Under a marketing agreement, Cerilliant will develop and manufacture ready-to-use certified solution standards for use with Thermo Fisher Scientific’s ToxSpec Analyzer LC/MS solution.

AB SCIEX is collaborating with the University of Geneva to create workflows for its MS system that will be launched later this year. The system will combine high resolution, mass accuracy, sensitivity and speed.

Product Introductions

Micromeritics introduced the MicroStar residual gas analyzer, a quadrupole MS that complements its AutoChem 2920 and 2950 dynamic chemisorption analyzers.

Proteome Software released the web-based MassQC software for improved reproducibility of LC-MS/MS.

JEOL introduced the DART SVP (Simplified Voltage and Pressure) ionization source, which integrates sample automation, including a linear rail and sample holders.

Sage-N Research released the SEQUEST 3G proteomics search engine for translational proteomics, featuring improved search sensitivity for phosphorylated peptides and a multiple-pass search engine architecture.

Hiden Anaytical introduced the Transient MS, which is designed for the analysis of fast transient gas events at pressures near atmosphere. It features the HAL/3F PIC MS with pulse ion-counting detector.

Shimadzu introduced the Nanotrap Biomarker Discovery Platform, consisting of its AXIMA MALDI MS, Ceres Nanosciences’ Nanotraps core-shell hydrogel particles for fractionation and enrichment, and Nonlinear Dynamics’ Progenesis MALDI software.

Ion Sense launched the 3+D Scanner, an interface for the DART SVP ionization source, for MS analysis of chemicals on surfaces, including large-format samples.

AB SCIEX released LipidView Software for characterizing molecules in studies of lipidomics by utilizing a four-step workflow combined with the QTRAP 5500 System.