MALDI PharmaPulse mass spectrometery System for Biochemical Screening

MALDI PharmaPulse is a complete mass spectrometry based screening solution designed to accelerate all phases of drug discovery. The system offers the advantage of true label-free detection of native substrates and products in functional biochemical assays. An ultrafast MALDI-TOF system delivers analytical results in less than 1 second per sample making it uniquely suited for High Throughput Screening (HTS) applications.

This innovative solution delivers significant cost-per-sample reductions due to the extremely low solvent and reagent usage, reduced waste generation including hazardous solvents requiring difficult disposal, and the elimination of any sample pre-treatment steps such as SPE or HPLC. Assay development with the MALDI PharmaPulse is simple and rapid while sample and data processing is fully automated. Combined with the robust instrument performance, these factors significantly increase lab efficiency.

Image credit: Bruker Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry

Fully Automated Plate Management, Preparation and Loading

Based on Bruker's market leading FLEX series matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometers (MALDI-TOF), the MALDI PharmaPulse provides true MS based 96, 384 and 1536 plate reading capabilities. The analysis of a complete 1536 target plate takes less than 25 minutes. Subsequent target plates are automatically exchanged with the included automation package or with custom solutions.

All of Bruker's MALDI-TOF systems incorporate patented smartbeam™ laser technology for unrivalled speed, sensitivity, and resolution.

Bruker's flagship FLEX series - quick and reliable results from the smallest sample amounts.

MALDI PharmaPulse benefits includes:

True label-free detection of native substrates and products in functional biochemical assays

The fastest MS based screening system with cycle times between 0.5 and 1 second per sample

Dramatically reduced solvent use resulting in significantly lower costs per analysis

Simple and rapid assay development with no SPE or HPLC sample pre-treatment required

Significantly reduced sample volume, typically 1μL, enables single well kinetic readouts

Robust automation and workflows enables > 50,000 samples screened per day

Automated data acquisition and processing

Comprehensive and easy-to-use, Bruker's Compass™ software package provides fully automated data acquisition and processing capabilities. Flexible data output formatting allows easy transfer to other software systems for further data processing or visualization.

Shorter time to results and lower costs

Significant reductions in solvent and reagent usage and waste generation result in much lower cost-per-sample.

Up to 100 times less solvent than multi-plexed LC/SPE-MS systems

No need for SPE cartridges or HPLC columns

Label-free detection accelerates and simplifies assay development and avoids interferences from artifacts

Extremely low sample volumes required for detection (typically ~1μL) enables single well kinetic readouts which can reduce the total number of assays required

Plate Reading with MALDI-TOF MS

The MALDI PharmaPulse features a full automation package from HighRes Biosolutions that seamlessly prepares and loads MALDI plates into the FLEX series MALDI-TOF system. Major components of the pre-configured system include:

A high precision, fully articulated robotic arm that manages all plate movement

A configurable plate carousel that can hold up to 172 plates

A high precision liquid handling and pipetting robot compatible with 1536, 384 and 96 formats

A high-speed delidding hotel that does not require house vacuum

Bruker MALDI PharmaPulse label free HTS solutionPlay

HighRes Biosolutions Cellario dynamic scheduling software seamlessly controls the automation and MALDI-TOF components of the complete solution. Cellario integrates all the devices to provide a single, cohesive front-end interaction point for the end user. Through protocol design, order creation, pre-run analysis and run-time control, Cellario is specifically designed to optimize the throughput, sample preparation and resource utilization of the MALDI PharmaPulse.

TTP Labtech's nanoliter liquid handler, mosquito, enables the high throughput preparation of the MALDI sample plates. mosquito's unique positive displacement technology allows sample and matrix to be sequentially aspirated and simultaneously dispensed to produce uniform, homogeneous spots in the sub microliter range.

Highly accurate pipetting and positioning allows spots to be set up in high density 1,536 arrays to enable fast and efficient analysis. The homogeneous nature of the spots means that many laser shots can be fired at the same location without compromising data quality and is key to the overall throughput of the system.

The disposable pipette tips used by mosquito can be washed and re-used to minimize running costs and ensure system reliability. Positive displacement technology also offers maximum reproducibility even when dealing with the different liquid classes used for sample and matrix. The rigid nature of the tips also allow them to pierce foil-sealed source plates, which is essential for preservation of the volatile matrix and wash solutions.

The mosquito instrument is capable of preparing a 1,536 MALDI plate in less than 1 second per well - keeping pace with the analysis of the MALDI-TOF and maintaining overall throughput.