Milford, MA 7/23/18—Specialty measurement firm Waters has acquired exclusive rights to DESI (desorption electrospray ionization) technology from Prosolia and the Purdue Research Foundation (PRF). “DESI mass spectrometry imaging provides complementary and actionable data when compared to classical histopathology imaging technologies with major advantages in analyzing the molecular fingerprint within a sample, thus delivering deeper biological insights,” stated Waters Chairman and CEO Chris O’Connell. Waters and PRF also announced a new relationship that includes the installation of a Waters’ Synapt G2-Si TOF MS at PRF. Prosolia will provide DESI technology for other vendors’ MS configurations through September 30, 2019.

Like Waters’ REIMS (Rapid Evaporative Ionization Mass Spectrometry) technology, DESI is a direct-from-sample MS technique. “Where the two technologies complement one another is that DESI is an MS imaging technique providing analysis of spatial distribution of molecules in tissue. REIMS allows an accurate mass MS profile to be collected in the space of a just few seconds for specific sites within a sample tissue,” said Jeff Mazzeo, vice president Marketing, at Waters. The company recently launched the direct-from-sample DART-QDa with Live ID system (see IBO 6/15/18). “These technologies all represent our efforts continuously democratize the use and application of mass spectrometry.” 

Asked about Waters’ view of the long-term market prospects for DESI as a technique for cancer diagnosis, Mr. Mazzeo told IBO, “Waters recognizes the potential of digital molecular imaging in histopathology for clinical research. DESI imaging mass spectrometry provides complementary and actionable data when compared to classical staining imaging technologies with one major advantage: it provides in situ localization of the molecular fingerprint within the tissue, thus providing deeper biological insights.”