Next-Generation Solutions for Discovery Omics

In the rapidly evolving field of mass spectrometry, technological advancements continue to redefine the capabilities and applications of analytical instruments, particularly in the realm of omics research.

In an interview with Technology Networks, James Hallam, vice president of the Research, Development and Advanced Testing Business Segment at Waters Corporation, discussed how the Xevo MRT Mass Spectrometer (MS) is helping to solve significant challenges faced by scientists and lab managers across a spectrum of academic and industrial fields.

Hallam shared the diverse applications of the Xevo MRT MS including drug metabolism, metabolomics and lipidomics, across the pharmaceutical and academic sectors with case study examples, including the development of novel diagnostic tests for Parkinson’s disease.

Emphasizing Waters Corporation's commitment to sustainability, Hallam also highlighted the significance of the company’s recent Accountability , Consistency and Transparency (ACT) Ecolabel Certifications, underscoring the company's dedication to environmentally conscious manufacturing practices.

Molly Coddington (MC): Can you outline the key technological advancements in the Xevo MRT MS compared to previous models, and how those advancements were developed?

James Hallam (JH): The Xevo MRT MS delivers exceptional performance and speed without compromise.

The Xevo MRT MS builds on work that we pioneered with Waters SELECT SERIES MRT MS, offering multi-reflecting time-of-flight (MRT) and hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight (QTof) technologies in a compact, benchtop platform. This means more power and resolution are achieved on a small footprint device, leading to faster results without sacrificing data quality. The resolution of the Xevo MRT MS system is 100,000 full width half maximum at 100Hz MS/MS scan speed, delivering <500 RMS parts per billion mass accuracy.

Xevo MRT MS offers scientists the ability to work at maximum resolution with high sensitivity and fast data acquisition rates, ensuring confident identification of analytes across a broad range of samples and complex matrices.

MC: Who are the primary users of the Xevo MRT MS, and can you discuss any research examples that utilize the technology?

JH: Xevo MRT MS solves significant challenges faced by scientists and lab managers across a spectrum of academic and industrial fields. The Xevo MRT MS is a next-generation solution for discovery omics. We know this technology will be highly impactful for customers in the pharmaceutical and academic segments, where they are challenged with identifying, often low levels of analytes, in complex matrices.

Researchers working in the field on large cohort, population or epidemiological studies who are performing metabolomics and lipidomics need to obtain ever deeper coverage of analytes in high complexity matrices with run times under 20 minutes. With Xevo MRT MS, these labs can get extreme precision at productivity levels that matter.

We heard from Professor Perdita Barran, chair of mass spectrometry at the University of Manchester’s Department of Chemistry and director of the Michael Barber Centre for Collaborative Mass Spectrometry, at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, UK, at the launch of the Xevo MRT MS in June, explaining how the technology is allowing her to accelerate the development of a diagnostic test for Parkinson's Disease.

MC: What does the ACT Ecolabel Certification mean for Waters Corporation and its customers? Can you describe the process and criteria involved in achieving the ACT Ecolabel Certification from My Green Lab?

JH: We know how much sustainability matters to our customers when they make decisions on laboratory equipment. Earning the ACT Ecolabel Certification means that they can be confident they are making an environmentally sustainable choice without sacrificing performance or results.

Certification required us to demonstrate that these products reflect the ACT principles, including minimizing waste and energy consumption, designed so that sustainable practices are part of the product’s entire lifecycle from development and manufacturing to end-of-life disposal and that we are committed to being transparent about the environmental impacts so customers can make informed decisions when choosing their analytical instruments.

MC: How does the ACT certification reflect Waters commitment to sustainability and environmentally conscious manufacturing practices?

We are proud that more than 40 of our products are now certified with the ACT Ecolabel. We recognize the importance of ensuring our products are sustainable. We have supported our customers’ sustainability goals in a variety of ways including building more energy and resource efficient devices, reducing the amount of solvent needed per sample and changing how we package devices to reduce wasted materials. We also maintain ISO 14001 Environmental Management System certification at four of our manufacturing facilities, where we seek to protect the environment by preventing pollution and reducing waste.

Sustainability has been a key focus for Waters since at least 2004 when we launched the ACQUITY UPLC System and Columns, which had an 80% reduction in solvent usage compared to HPLC. We estimate that this solution has saved more than 300 million hours of runtime and 27 million liters of mobile phase for our customers, meaning less resource usage as they accomplish their goals. As announced at ASMS, 42 of our ACQUITY Premier and Cortecs Premier Columns have been assigned ACT Ecolabels as they feature MaxPeak High Performance Surfaces Technologies, further reducing solvent consumption, making them an ideal choice for ACQUITY UPLC Systems.

In addition, we have focused on improving the sustainability of our chromatography columns by redesigning packaging to replace non-recyclable foam inserts with recycled and recyclable plastic, while reducing our column box sizes by 50%.

Alexander Beadle (AB): Sustainability and the implementation of intelligence/automation were two of the main themes at this year’s ASMS. To what extent do you anticipate sustainability (and/or intelligence) shaping the future directions of the analytical science sector?

JH: We have long believed that sustainability must be a core factor in our work and the analytical instruments we produce. We know our customers are concerned with sustainability and so wherever we can provide options that reduce waste and resource consumption, we have made it a priority to do so.

We are also incorporating many artificial intelligence/machine learning tools into our technologies, designed to automate data processing, reduce user error and help with fault diagnosis or provide predictive maintenance to increase instrument robustness and reduce downtime. Increasingly, we see even very high-end MS technologies being adopted in high throughput routine testing environments where instrument uptime and availability are critical.

MC: Looking ahead, what are the strategic goals for Waters over the next 12 months, particularly in terms of market expansion and technology innovation?

JH: Our focus is on solving problems that matter to our customers, and in the field of MS this centers around us being able to provide complete solutions that can be relied upon to deliver benefit.

This can be in the form of efficiency and productivity gains, exceptional performance and seamless connectivity into the lab ecosystem. Our PFAS and bioprocess analytical testing solutions are great examples of the impact of this focus, and over the next 12 months, we will continue to innovate and support our customers in the most challenging yet societally critical areas of analytical science, with the aim of leaving this world better than we find it.

James Hallam, vice president of the Research, Development and Advanced Testing Business segment at Waters Corporation, was speaking to Molly Coddington, Senior Science Writer and News Team Lead at Technology Networks, and Alexander Beadle, Science Writer at Technology Networks.

About the interviewee

James Hallam is vice president of Waters Corporation’s Research, Development and Advanced Testing business segment with global responsibility for product development and commercialization of MS-based solutions and associated software, environmental proficiency testing, certified reference materials and advanced rapid food safety testing solutions.

Hallam previously held roles within sales, marketing and general management at Waters including vice president of Waters commercial business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He graduated from Nottingham University with an Honors Degree in Chemistry.