Shimadzu Enhances Bio-Research Analyses with AXIMA-TOF2™

Shimadzu Biotech has introduced the AXIMA-TOF2, its MALDI based high-performance TOF-TOF mass spectrometer.

the AXIMA-TOF2  is designed to bring enhanced flexibility to Life Science laboratories, extending the type of analyses they can provide.

The device was introduced at the 54th American Society of Mass Spectrometry Conference in Seattle.

With Shimadzu Biotech’s intuitive software bundled as standard, the AXIMA-TOF2 is ideal for use in open-access lab environments.

Beyond its use in proteomics research, the AXIMA-TOF2 is equally adept at analyzing and processing polymers, oligonucleotides, SNPs, metabolites, lipids, carbohydrates or small molecules with high sensitivity.

"Using high-energy CID to augment fragmentation of analytes, Shimadzu Biotech’s AXIMA-TOF2 mass spectrometer takes full advantage of the curved field reflectron technology, to deliver MS/MS data without the need for post-acceleration," says Dr. Emmanuel Raptakis, Product Manager for Shimadzu Biotech.

"Ion scattering is minimized by utilizing a totally grid-less ion path and helium as the collision gas of choice. The instrument is designed to have the highest ion transmission possible, thus optimizing real-world sensitivity."

"The Axima-TOF2 high energy CID has proven to be invaluable for a multitude of applications ranging from performing high confidence protein identification to aiding de novo sequencing," says Dr Rachel Martin, Applications Manager for Shimadzu Biotech.

"Analysis of a wide variety of compound classes, like lipids and carbohydrates, can yield invaluable structural information previously out of reach for lower energy MS/MS approaches."

The ion gating technology employed in the AXIMA-TOF2 affords precursor ion isolation resolution, which allows the MS/MS analysis of the challenging complex mixtures.

The curved field reflectron technology, under license from Johns Hopkins University, MD, US, has been updated to enhance the sensitivity and quality of high energy CID MS/MS spectra.

The Axima TOF2 is designed to integrate with the wide Shimadzu Biotech product portfolio, to offer complete solutions.

Intuitive software is designed to allow the use of this device in an open access environment with minimal training, or within the up-to-the-minute workflows, including automated PMF or MS-MS protein identification, LC-MALDI and others.

The AXIMA-TOF2 comes with multiple software features including:

- Proteomics Suite for single sample manual acquisition or fully automated data dependent peptide mass fingerprinting and MS/MS for protein identification with integrated Mascot^® searching.

- LC MALDI Integrated Package provides total support for LC MALDI-based experiments with fully automated acquisition, including an intensity map of all sample spots across the target to assess the distribution of peptides and identify the position of the apex of chromatographic peaks, compilation of ‘candidate’ list, automatic MS/MS and subsequent database searching.

- Biomarker Recognition identifies biomarker patterns and distribution compounds of interest in clinical samples. Data can be exported into alternative processing packages.

- Functional Genomics offers the user linear mode performance that lends itself to alternative applications such as oligonucleotide and SNP analysis and QC processes.

- QC Applications, with Launchpad™ software, includes a module offering fully automated QC analysis of large numbers of samples, complete with a user-defined report indicating the presence or absence of the target compound, an estimate of purity and known contaminants, and adducts or truncated/extended analogues.