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ASMS 2011 was an excellent choice of show for the launch of PerkinElmer’s AxION MS platform to a broad customer audience covering the environmental, pharmaceutical and food industries. The AxION MS portfolio of hardware and software solutions was very well received by customers as it offers integrated solutions across multiple applications. There was a great deal of interest in the new AxION eDoor™ for open access environments.


This offers remote access for inexperienced users, from adding samples to a queue using a bar code reader, to receiving results by email. New accessories, such as the innovative AxION Separation Probe which minimises the dead volume so important in UHPLC separation and the Direct Sample Analysis (DSA) APCI ion source, which enables rapid analysis of solid, liquid or gas pharmaceuticals with little or no sample preparation, proved particularly popular with those looking to optimise workflow analysis in academic, food, pharmaceutical and environmental laboratories.


On arrival at the Denver Convention Centre, and once again seeing the big blue bear staring through the window, there was a feeling of déjà vu. After all, it was only a couple of years ago since the annual ASMS conference had visited Mile High City – would mass spectrometry have changed much during this relatively short time, or would it all seem strangely familiar, like Denver itself?


There was no need to worry, we would not be disappointed. As someone working with proteins and biomolecular complexes, the range of topics and quality of presentations in these areas were impressive. The emphasis this year, in this field, was focussed on the use of mass spectrometry coupled to an arsenal of chemical techniques including cross-linking, hydrogen-deuterium exchange, and oxidative labelling to pin-point the key regions of a wide range of proteins which are responsible for that particular protein’s structure and function. Macromolecular protein complexes, protein-ligand interactions, and recent developments in hardware and software were all covered in depth. Ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry also featured highly, having grown from having a small group of followers a few years ago to now having an army of users. This year the subject warranted two full sessions of oral presentations plus a dedicated workshop, which together covered data interpretation, instrumentation and, in particular, structural biology applications.


The weather in Denver was hot, in excess of 30 oC, or so we were told. Spending almost a good 12 hours per day inside the Convention Centre left little opportunity for sun and sight-seeing, but was a strong testimonial to the quality of oral and poster presentations, the corporate exhibitions and the lively workshops. The latter were scarcely over before the hospitality suites opened to finish off the day. To summarise ASMS 2011 in numerical form, there were: 6437 delegates, 340 oral presentations, 2783 posters, 15 courses, 167 corporate exhibitors and 9 hospitality suites. Roll on ASMS 2012 and Vancouver.


Alison E Ashcroft, University of Leeds


A welcome return to Denver and the behemoth that is ASMS was preceded by a day trip into Rocky Mountain National Park. This amazing place was the perfect remedy for travel weariness and ensured my brain was on the same continent as my body for the start of ASMS. This began with the usual array of Users’ meetings and then the conference for real kicked off with two splendid Tutorial lectures, Jim Jorgenson (Uni. North Carolina) lectured on ‘LC and MS: A match made in Heaven’ with focus on UHPLC and Mark Duncan (Uni. Colorado) gave an outstanding presentation on ‘Good Mass Spectrometry and its Place in Good Science: Sometimes Close Enough is Really not Good Enough’. This presentation should be compulsory reading for all practitioners, highlighting the need for analytical rigour at all stages of experiment and reporting thereof. The opening Plenary Lecture ‘Our Stellar Origins Revealed by Stardust Grains’, by Larry Nittler explained how all elements came from the stars. This was evinced throughout the conference oral and poster presentations where the contents mimicked the periodic table. There were a number of precious metal presentations but also many of Tin and Lead; as ever ASMS was a true Curate’s egg.


From a personal viewpoint this was one of the best ASMS conferences I can recall. I am not sure if this is because I attended with a focussed list of objectives, all of which were met or whether it was truly a better event. No doubt the familiarity with Denver and the friendly nature of the city helped, a stark comparison with Philadelphia two years previous (Gold and Lead again). There was a reasonable balance between small molecule MS, biomolecular MS and ‘omics, the lipidomics sessions being particularly well attended and in general very good quality presentations, Bob Murphy giving his usual high quality presentation. There were a number of interesting developments from the manufacturers often improved sensitivity, mass resolving power and enhanced capability. These developments made the hospitality suites very busy, along with the deceptive lure of peculiar flashing objects and other associated freebies.


Networking is always a challenge at a meeting with ~6500 delegates and 700 posters daily, the latter taxing the brain and feet. As ever it was easy and great to catch up with distant friends and colleagues, others were more of a challenge. Nevertheless I managed to meet up with nearly everyone I needed to, often initiated by use of mobile phone other times relying on the tried and trusted mass spectrometry networking tool of going to a bar.


The meeting finished on a high spot with a trip to Coors Field to see the Rockies play the Dodgers – it is a shame ASMS had not block booked a section of the ground for an end of conference event, this would have been the perfect end to a very enjoyable ASMS. Now it is time to plan the trip to the 60th ASMS 2012 in Vancouver; there is a special irony that ASMS will be celebrating their diamond jubilee in Canada.


Dr John Langley, Chemistry, University of Southampton


Future dates


Dates and venues for the forthcoming ASMS meetings have been announced as follows:


May 20-24th 2012 Vancouver, BC, Canada June 9-13th 2013 Minneapolis, MN June 15 - 19, 2014, Baltimore, MD


References [1] Huang T-Y, Liu. J, & McLuckey S.A.; JASMS, 2010, Vol. (21)6, 890-898


Final thought


There continues to be acquisitions across the industry with the large players picking up technology and expertise, sometimes as a part of other technologies, which may lead to some interesting mass spec hybrids in the future.


What price Thermo Fisher Scientific utilising some technology from the Dionex ion chromatography product line, Danaher (owners of AB SCIEX) and possibly the Beckman Coulter capillary electrophoresis line with Agilent incorporating some Varian technology in the future maybe?


Solutions looking for problems or a hit on a new exciting applications area? Watch this space.


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