7th CONFERENCE OF THE CZECH SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY - BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

Significance of the Topic

Mass spectrometry remains a cornerstone of modern analytical chemistry, driving advances in structural biology, metabolomics, proteomics and reaction mechanism studies. The Seventh Annual Conference of the Czech Society for Mass Spectrometry convened experts to share novel developments in instrumentation, ionization methods and applications aimed at solving challenging problems across catalysis, biomedicine, environmental analysis and fundamental gas-phase chemistry.

Aims and Overview of the Conference Abstracts

• Present cutting-edge MS-based investigations into single-atom catalysis, gas-phase radical chemistry, and metal–ligand reaction intermediates.
• Showcase novel workflows in shotgun and targeted proteomics, data-independent acquisition and high-resolution separations for deep proteome coverage.
• Demonstrate imaging and footprinting approaches for mapping protein structure, lipid distribution in tissues, and metabolic pathways in cells and animal models.
• Highlight clinical and environmental applications including drug monitoring, food analysis, inborn metabolism defects and biomarker discovery.

Methodology and Instrumentation

• Ion sources: Nano-ESI, APCI and GDVN sprayers, DESI and MALDI for imaging.
• Mass analyzers: Q-TOF, triple quadrupole, Orbitrap, FT-ICR, TIMS-QTOF, Ion Mobility MS.
• Chromatography: NanoLC, UPLC, SFC, GC×GC, basic pH RP fractionation, size exclusion.
• Techniques: HDX-MS, chemical cross-linking, ion spectroscopy, native MS, PASEF IMS–MS, DIA proteomics.

Main Results and Discussion

• Elucidation of metal-centered reaction pathways via gas-phase ion/molecule studies of carbene and nitrido complexes.
• Characterization of cation-radicals of peptides and nucleobases by electron transfer methods and spectroscopy.
• Proteome coverage extended to single-cell and low-nanogram samples using PASEF and high-speed DDA/DIA methods.
• Discovery of novel lipid and metabolite biomarkers in biofluids, breast milk, and adipose tissue by targeted and untargeted high-resolution MS.
• Technical advances in 3D-printed sprayers, gradient fractionation and microfluidic interfacing for low-flow separations and enhanced ionization.

Benefits and Practical Applications of the Methods

• Early and non-invasive diagnosis of infections and metabolic disorders via urinary siderophore detection.
• Therapeutic drug monitoring of psychotropics in clinical laboratories with high sensitivity and specificity.
• High-throughput screening of pesticides, food dyes and pollutants in complex matrices using GC/MS and SFC-MS.
• Spatial mapping of lipids and drugs in tissues by MALDI imaging combined with confocal microscopy.
• Improved identification of membrane and exosomal proteins as biomarkers and drug targets.

Future Trends and Applications

• Expansion of ion mobility workflows (e.g. PASEF) for rapid, high-sensitivity proteome and metabolome profiling.
• Integration of 3D-printing and microfluidics to create customizable, low-dead-volume interfaces for sub-µL/min separations.
• Development of data-independent acquisition methods and machine-learning tools for untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics.
• Advances in MALDI imaging to achieve cellular resolution and overlay with molecular labels for multimodal analysis.
• Single-cell MS and native MS techniques for detailed study of protein complexes and post-translational modifications in heterogeneous samples.

Conclusion

The 2018 Czech Society for Mass Spectrometry conference showcased a broad spectrum of methodological innovations and applications spanning fundamental gas-phase chemistry to clinical diagnostics. The convergence of high-resolution separations, advanced ion sources and cutting-edge mass analyzers continues to expand the capabilities of MS, enabling deeper molecular insights and driving translational impacts across biology, medicine and environmental sciences.

References

Book of Abstracts, Seventh Annual Conference of the Czech Society for Mass Spectrometry, Prague 2018.