4. KONFERENCE ČESKÉ SPOLEČNOSTI PRO HMOTNOSTNÍ SPEKTROMETRII - Sborník abstraktů

Significance of the Topic

The 4th Conference of the Czech Society for Mass Spectrometry gathered leading experts to showcase how advanced mass spectrometric techniques drive innovation across biology, chemistry, medicine, industry, and environmental science. Cutting-edge developments in instrumentation and methodology continue to expand the reach of MS, enabling highly sensitive, selective, and high-throughput analyses of complex samples.

Goals and Overview of the Conference

The conference aimed to bring together academic and industrial researchers to:

• Present novel MS-based methods for probing biomolecules, small molecules, and materials
• Share best practices in sample preparation, data acquisition, and data analysis
• Explore interdisciplinary applications in proteomics, metabolomics, ion chemistry, catalysis, clinical diagnostics, food and environmental analysis
• Discuss future trends in mass spectrometry instrumentation and informatics

Methodology and Instrumentation

Contributions covered a broad range of mass spectrometric platforms and approaches:

• High-resolution MS (Orbitrap, FT-ICR) with advanced fragmentation (HCD, CID, MS³)
• Tandem quadrupole and triple quadrupole MS for sensitive quantitation (MRM)
• Ambient ionization (DESI, nanoDESI, laser ablation, SALD) for imaging and rapid screening
• Ion mobility spectrometry (IM-MS) for isomer separation and structural probing
• Native MS and MS-based structural methods (HDX, cross-linking, IRMPD) to study protein conformation and interactions
• GC-MS, LC-MS, SFC-MS, SPE/MS, capillary electrophoresis for separation of volatile, polar, and non-polar analytes
• SIFT-MS for real-time breath and headspace analysis

Main Results and Discussion

Key highlights included:

• Proteomic workflows: novel enrichment and labeling strategies for membrane proteins, phosphopeptides, glycopeptides, and clinical biomarkers using TMT, SILAC, iTRAQ, and enrichment on modified MALDI targets
• Structural MS: detailed mapping of redox-active metalloproteins, C-H activation intermediates, and protein complexes using hybrid MS-spectroscopic techniques and DFT calculations
• Metabolomics: automated sample preparation platforms for urine metabolomics, direct intact protein analysis on triple quadrupoles, and comprehensive profiling of bioactive lipids in human vernix caseosa
• Ion chemistry: thermochemical measurements of lanthanide/actinide cation binding, reactivity studies of ice nanoparticles with sodium, and low-temperature kinetics of ion-molecule reactions relevant to astrophysics
• Clinical applications: multiplexed enzyme assays for newborn screening of lysosomal disorders, monitoring of phosphodiesterase inhibitors in dietary supplements, and quantitative determination of vitamin D metabolites in serum
• Imaging MS: accelerated MALDI-TOF imaging with scanning laser beams, multimodal molecular and elemental mapping of tissues, including siderophore distribution in fungal lung infection models

Benefits and Practical Applications

Advances presented at the conference translate into:

• More robust, high-throughput workflows for biomarker discovery and routine clinical testing
• Enhanced capability to analyze challenging samples, including membrane proteins, labile post-translational modifications, and intact proteins
• Non-invasive diagnostics via breath and tissue imaging
• Insights into catalytic mechanisms for green chemistry and environmental remediation
• Better understanding of fundamental ion chemistry for materials science and astrophysics

Future Trends and Possibilities

Emerging directions include:

• Integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning for automated data interpretation and biomarker identification
• Development of miniaturized, portable MS systems for point-of-care diagnostics and field applications
• Expansion of native MS and MS-based structural biology to larger assemblies and in vivo complexes
• Multimodal imaging combining MS with optical and elemental mapping for comprehensive tissue characterization
• Advances in ambient ionization and separation techniques for real-time, in situ analysis of complex matrices

Conclusion

The conference highlighted the pivotal role of mass spectrometry in addressing challenges across science, medicine, and industry. Continued methodological innovation and cross-disciplinary collaboration promise transformative advances in analytical capabilities, leading to new discoveries, improved diagnostics, and sustainable technologies.

Reference

• Smith D. et al. Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry: Principles and Applications. Int. J. Mass Spectrom. 2011.
• Roithová J. et al. Mechanistic Insights from MS-Based Studies of Gold Catalysis. Chem. Rev. 2010.
• Pascal B.D. et al. HDX Workbench: Software for Analysis of H/D Exchange MS Data. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 2012.