Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) announced the availability of the Agilent 6340 Ion Trap Liquid Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer (LC/MS), which allows scientists to study proteins in a manner that was previously achievable only on a million-dollar floor-standing instrument that requires a dedicated operator. The 6340, a new instrument in Agilent’s 6000 Series portfolio of LC/MS systems, fits on a bench top and is equipped with an electron transfer dissociation (ETD) unit — a new tool for the study of proteins and post-translational modifications.

When operated in ETD mode, the 6340 Ion Trap provides extensive and easy-to-interpret amino acid sequence information in the form of complementary c- and z-series ions. Other features for the study of post-translational modifications include the ability to alternate between ETD and collision induced dissociation (CID) modes of fragmentation from scan to scan, which helps to pinpoint the precise identity and location of a chemical modification. In addition, neutral-loss triggered auto-MS3 and pseudo-MSn modes can be used to target specific families of modifications.

Unlike FT-MS devices, the 6340 supports rapid nano-scale chromatography, which facilitates “shot-gun” proteomics studies involving the analysis of all the proteins extracted from whole cell lysates (contents released during the decomposition of a cell). When used in concert with Agilent’s revolutionary HPLC-Chip, the 6340 will enhance researchers’ ability to identify and characterize protein modifications in extremely complex samples.

Other new features and advances of the 6340 include:

a high-speed data acquisition system that provides unsurpassed scan collection and transfer rates;

ETD reagent anion monitoring;

selective or automatic charge state data collection; and

reproducible ETD spectra.