Microsaic Systems Wins R&D 100 Award for the World’s Most Compact Mass Spectrometer
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Microsaic Systems plc has announced that its 3500 MiD mass spectrometer has been chosen as an R&D 100 award winner by an independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine.
The award recognizes the 3500 MiD as one of the most technologically significant products to enter the marketplace in 2011.
Microsaic is the first and only company to have commercialized MS (mass spectrometry) technology on a chip. The instrument distinguished itself among other entries as the chips allow production of MS detectors that are smaller, lighter, consume less energy, are easier to maintain and cheaper to run than conventional MS systems.
MS is widely accepted as one of the most reliable methods for identifying chemicals, and MS systems are used to accurately identify the chemicals that make up gaseous, liquid and solid samples.
MS is used across a range of sectors including government, energy, utilities, pharmaceuticals, environmental, food & drink, healthcare and industrial chemicals.
Although fast and sensitive, typical MS systems are large, heavy, energy intensive, expensive and complex to use, as a result, MS systems tend to be shared, central facilities.
The 3500 MiD represents a step change in the ease of use and footprint of mass spectrometry.
Most revolutionary is the fact that the 3500 MiD, uniquely, is fully self contained, making it highly portable. All other commercial mass spectrometers have external vacuum pumps, which typically sit on the floor and connect to the instrument with vacuum hoses.
The 3500 MiD’s small size - about one third that of the main unit of typical competitors - means it can be easily incorporated within a stack or cluster of instruments on a particular chemist’s work space - it is even small enough to sit inside a fume hood.
This results in greater workplace productivity, by giving chemists access to immediate results, offering economic benefit in areas such as drug discovery and synthesis.
It will also bring the accuracy and reliability of mass spectrometry to on-site analysis applications such as sports forensics, food & beverage quality, and oil and gas exploration.
“The awards have long been a benchmark of excellence so we are delighted to have been selected for the R&D 100 award - the competition has been strong this year so it is a great achievement to be acknowledged by industry leaders as one of the most valuable and significant products released to the market,” said Professor Eric Yeatman, CEO of Microsaic Systems.
Professor Yeatman continued, “The 3500 MiD is the culmination of over a decade of research, bringing together two high tech fields - chemical analysis and silicon micro-engineering - to make possible a transformative capability in detection. Its low operating cost and small footprint make the 3500 MiD deployable in a wide range of applications where mass spectrometry has not been able to reach until now - a true innovation.”
