MASSMATTERS

A very warm welcome to the latest edition of Mass Matters! In this issue we focus on ‘Lipidomics’ – supporting the recent launch of our new SIG group, under the supervision of Andrea Lopez and Bebiana Da Costa Sousa. We hope you find this an interesting addition to our SIG network and I know the team have some great plans for events. Also, a warm welcome to these pages to Jackie Mosely as our newly installed Chair –please do check out her first Chair’s report.
As with the previous edition, we have continued with our digital only distribution – hoping that this e-delivery finds you safe and well during Lockdown 2 (or is it 3?!).
Dear BMSS members,
Spring is in the air, and 2021 is full of vaccines and promise for a bright future!
For my first as BMSS Chair’s report, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank Dr Ashley Sage who stepped down as BMSS Chair to take up the role of Immediate Past Chair in October and will now Chair the BMSS Advisory Board. A huge thanks also to Prof. Gavin O’Connor and Dr Bob Galvin who stepped off the Advisory Board, and Dr Hannah Florance who stepped off the committee at the end of their terms. The years and years of commitment to the BMSS is very much acknowledged and appreciated; we all thank you, and are looking forward to seeing you at future BMSS events. Other changes to the committee include the introduction of a Digital Communications Officer, a role that has been taken up by Chris Hopley. Prof. Neil Oldham has stepped into the role of Vice Chair, Dr Rian Griffiths is the new Papers Secretary. We welcome Dr Hannah Britt who has taken on the mantle of Young Persons Representative, and Dr Liam Heaney and Dr Andrea Lopez-Clavijo who join the committee as general members and have already been snapped up to support papers and education respectively.
The BMSS community has not been idle during the various lockdowns. To date our SIG teams have delivered 30 virtual events and provided a much needed route for the community to connect. We have nearly 1500 people registered for these events which will continue through March with exciting offerings coming from the Environmental and Food Analysis SIG on 11th March with a focus on careers, the Biomacromolecular SIG on 24th March dedicated to early career researchers. On the 16th March the new Lipidomics SIG will hold their inaugural event. These free to attend events are now very much an international assembly! Do share the message among friends and colleagues and check out the website for upcoming summer
activities. Do please encourage everyone to join the BMSS as members as a strong membership is core to our amazing society.
Within the committee, we have continued to work with UKRI, the umbrella organisation for the UK research councils. Our objective was to produce a communitybacked, evidence-based vision for the future of Mass Spectrometry in the UK to support EPSRC, UKRI, and HMG in the strategic planning, prioritization, and funding of the science of Mass Spectrometry in the foreseeable future. There have been numerous stages to this process which are all detailed on the BMSS website (https://www. bmss.org.uk/about-us/uk-massspectrometry-vision/). The latest developments saw the BMSS’s mass spectrometry vision group present a pathway report to UKRI in November, and subsequently have written a Statement-of-Need which was submitted in February. These will appear on the BMSS website in the coming weeks, so please do keep an eye on our website home page NEWS ITEMS for the latest information.
The Summer Studentships call has been incredibly successful with a large number of high quality applications. Watch this space as the successful candidates will be announce very shortly. Our Research Support Grants call is open until 17th April so please do get those applications in soon. As we all start to get back into our labs. and restart our research programmes, this award may come in very timely :-)
Following a bit of a hiatus for obvious reasons, our BMSS lecturer, Prof Jane Thomas-Oates is happy to accept requests for lectures so please contact the BMSS’s education officer, Dr Mark Barrow for information.
As with everyone else, my crystal ball is a bit cloudy when it comes to the possibility of hosting face to face meetings in 2021 but at this point in time, I can announce that the BMSS is actively pursuing options to hold a face-to-face meeting in
early September 2021 at Sheffield Hallam. As progress unfolds, and decisions are made, we will keep you informed though the usual channels (home page NEWS ITEMS and BMSS media posts). It is our intent to hold the BMSS Introduction to Mass Spectrometry course as a virtual event later on this year.
And so as 2021 progresses, it is my sincere hope that we will get the opportunity to gather together in the same physical space, to continue to share our great science, and expand our networks of contacts and collaborators. It has been far too long …
All the very best!
Jackie Mosely, BMSS Chair
Don’t miss out, renew your BMSS membership subscription for 2021!
You can renew quickly and easily on-line by visiting the BMSS Website: www.bmss.org.uk.
Why not also encourage colleagues to join the BMSS? As a member of the BMSS they will:
• Be part of a community of people with similar interests
• Have the opportunity to keep up to date with recent technological developments, learn more about MS and share knowledge and experience e.g. by joining Special Interest Groups (SIG’s)
• Be eligible to apply for grants towards small items of equipment, summer studentships and conference travel
• Be entitled to discounts for BMSS meetings
• Benefit from reduced subscription fees to the European Journal of Mass Spectrometry
• Receive copies of Mass Matters, the official benefit from 20% off relevant book titles when purchased via Wiley Publishing (discount code required) publication of the BMSS, published three times a year
Students: Can benefit from our education programme by applying for travel grants, presenting research at meetings and by taking part in the Barber oral prize and Bordoli poster prize competitions. All student members also receive a general mass spectrometry text book upon joining.
New & Established spectrometrists: Can benefit from courses, careers events, links with other societies (such as ChromSoc. & RSC) and networking via the BMSS Annual Conference and Special Interest Group Meetings.
Any membership queries should be directed to: Lisa Sage, BMSS Administrator T: (01606) 810562 E: admin@bmss.org.uk
Blood pro-resolving mediators are linked with synovial pathology and are predictive of DMARD responsiveness in rheumatoid arthritis.
Gomez EA, Colas RA, Souza PR, Hands R, Lewis M J, Bessant C, Pitzalis C & Dalli J. Blood proresolving mediators are linked with synovial pathology and predictive of DMARD responsiveness in rheumatoid arthritis. Nature Communications volume 11, Article number: 5420 (2020) DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-020-19176-z
Using targeted LC-MS/MS, plasma from deeply phenotyped patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and machine learning analysis Gomesz, Colas, Souza et al found that peripheral blood omega-3 fatty acid-derived specialized pro-resolving mediator (SPM) concentrations are linked with both DMARD responsiveness and disease pathotype. These findings elucidate the potential utility of plasma SPM concentrations as biomarkers of DMARD responsiveness in RA.
Travelling Wave Ion MobilityDerived Collision Cross Section for Mycotoxins: Investigating Interlaboratory and interplatform reproducibility.
RighettiL, Dreolin N, Celma A, McCullagh M, Barknowitz G, Sancho JV, and Dall’Asta C. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2020, 68, 39, 10937–10943 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.0c04498
Mycotoxin analysis remains a challenge because of chemical diversity, isomeric forms, and the lack of analytical standards. Application of Ion mobility and CCS databases were evaluated as a methodologies to overcome
these challenges. Reproducibility of mycotoxin CCS measurements for commercially available IM-MS (TWIMS) systems was evaluated. Drift time separation of critical pairs of isomers for modified mycotoxins was achieved, and evaluation of measured and predicted CCS values, including regulated and emerging mycotoxins, was undertaken.
Profiling of the known-unknown Passiflora variant complement by liquid chromatography - Ion mobility - Mass spectrometry.
McCullaghM; Jeff Goshawk J; Eatough D; Mortishire-Smith RJ; Pereira CAM; Yariwake JH; Vissers J. Talanta (IF 5.339) (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121311
This research is an example of how CCS prediction can be used to solve the real challenge of characterizing complex samples. Authors use accurate mass, retention time, and CCS values to profile the variants of four Passiflora species for “knownunknowns” across the differing species. CCS prediction software was used to predict CCS values for structures that had previously been identified in Passiflora species and applied to the dataset this significantly increased the number of compound identifications in the analysis.
An investigation of D76N β2–microglobulin using protein footprinting and structural mass spectrometry.
O. Cornwell, J. R. Ault, S. E. Radford, A. E. Ashcroft, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., Special Issue “Protein Footprinting” (available on-line 15th February 2021) http://dx.doi. org/10.1021/jasms.0c00438.
Hydrogen deuterium exchange (HDX) and fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP), have been used to probe the differences in conformational dynamics of the 99-residue amyloidogenic protein β 2-microglobulin (β2m) and its more aggregation-prone variant, D76N. Together the HDX-MS and FPOP-MS data
indicate that a perturbation to the hydrogen bonding network in the E-F loop (residues 70-77) has taken place in the D76N variant.
FUNDAMENTALS OF ANALYTICAL TOXICOLOGY: CLINICAL AND FORENSIC - SECOND EDITION.
Robert J. Flanagan, Eva Cuypers, Hans H. Maurer, Robin Whelpton, Fundamentals of Analytical Toxicology, Clinical and Forensic, 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, United Kingdom, 599 pp., ISBN (PRINT) 978-1-11912234-0. ISBN (E-BOOK) 978-1119-12237-1, ISBN (O-BOOK) 978-1-119-12235-7
Applications of ambient ionization mass spectrometry in 2020: An annual review.
Rankin-Turner S., Heaney L.M. Analytical Science Advances, 2021, DOI: 10.1002/ansa.202000135
This annual review provides an overview of research in ambient ionisation mass spectrometry in 2020, highlighting recent applications and developments. Publications in a number of key fields are covered, including biomedical sciences, forensics and security, the environment, food science, and chemical synthesis. Furthermore, new ambient ionisation techniques
are introduced, in addition to recent modifications and improvements to existing techniques.
CD57+ Memory T Cells Proliferate In Vivo.
Raya Ahmed, Kelly L. Miners, Julio Lahoz-Beneytez, Rhiannon E. Jones, Laureline Roger, Christina Baboonian, Yan Zhang, Eddie C.Y. Wang, Marc K. Hellerstein, Joseph M. McCune, Duncan M. Baird, David A. Price, Derek C. Macallan, Becca Asquith, Kristin Ladell.
Cell Reports, Vol 33, Issue 11, 15 December 2020, 108501. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108501
Using heavy water labelling to measure the in vivo kinetics of highly-differentiated human T-cells: Groups from St George's, London, Cardiff University and Imperial College, London recently published a study showing that so-called "senescent" CD57+ T-cells do not represent a "dead-end" nondividing cell population, as previously suggested, but are maintained by ongoing cell proliferation. These data have implications for our understanding of how the immune system maintains itself in the face of ageing.
Speciation and milk adulteration analysis by rapid ambient liquid MALDI mass spectrometry profiling using machine learning.
Piras C., Hale O.J., Reynolds C.K., Jones A.K., Taylor N., Morris M., Cramer R. Sci Rep., 2021 Feb 8;11(1):3305. DOI: 10.1038/ s41598-021-82846-5
Liquid Atmospheric Pressure –MALDI was applied to MS profiling of metabolites, lipids and entire proteoforms in synergy with machine learning. This approach allowed accurate classification of ruminant species by milk analysis and the accurate detection of cow milk as adulterant in goat milk, employing simple and brief sample preparation (one-pot, two-steps) as well as short 60-seconds MS data acquisitions.
Mark A. McDowall BMSS Meetings Secretary
Harold Macmillan (British Prime Minister 1957- 1963) when asked to name the most difficult thing about his job responded (patricianly); “events, dear boy, events!” The pandemic events of 2020 have had far reaching consequences for BMSS members both personally and professionally. In Covidious Albion the Society’s diary of scientific meetings was obliterated and we have all had to adapt to ZOOM.
What are the Realistic Prospects for Analogue Scientific Meetings in 2021?
The rollout of efficacious vaccines and the social imperative bodes well for the resumption of conventional meetings. However the unknown unknowns of new COVID-19 variants coupled with the tightening of public and private sector budgets may allow only a very modest revival of events in the foreseeable future.
"There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen" (1). The COVID-19 rollercoaster, for the BMSS Events Team, began on the 16th March 2020 with the first onset of lockdown in the UK. In the following months we all began to grasp the enormity of the situation with the inevitable cancelation of a succession of 1-day Special Interest Group (SIG) events and finally the abandonment of our financially critical 3-day Annual Meeting scheduled for September 2020.
Since its foundation in 1964 the British Mass Spectrometry Society has progressively developed a programme of charitable disbursements. The Society’s income and expenditure has for decades balanced on the knife-edge of a modest surplus generated from its traditional 3-day Annual Meeting.
Consequently, the cancelation of the Annual Meeting in 2020 has had significant consequences for our Society.
The BMSS took the view that its ethical response to COVID-19 should be to strive to keep the public discourse of Mass Spectrometry alive in the UK. The Society also thought it important to provide a platform for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to present their work in the virtual space. Over the following months we collaborated with fantastic teams of SIG coordinators and sibling societies (e.g. The Mass Spectrometry Imaging Society) to deliver a program of 29 on-line events to the Mass Spectrometry Community at Large (2).
The upside of going virtual has had significant benefits; we now have regular participants in our on-line events that range from Singapore in the east to Los Angeles in the west, from Auckland in the south to Stockholm in the north. We have made many new friends and they are a very welcome addition to the BMSS family. The downside is that whilst we have made many new friends we have struggled to develop an income stream to sustain the Society’s charitable disbursements.
So the critical challenge that faces many scientific societies, in the short-medium term, is how to evolve a new funding model for the COVID-19 era that both serves the needs of members and delivers value to sponsors. We detect a marked resistance to significantly charging delegates for on-line events. We have all become accustomed to streaming unlimited entertainment (e.g. Netflix, et al.) for a negligible monthly subscription, and that has set cultural expectations. We anticipate that inviting on-line delegates to make donations (c.f. the Wikipedia funding model) will only yield very modest revenue, and
so will not balance the books! Feedback from our traditional sponsors (e.g. scientific instrument companies and scientific service providers) suggests that they are challenged to justify Return on Investment (ROI) when invited to support virtual events.
Will Virtual Events Become Adopted as the New Normal?
Necessity is the mother of invention! The pandemic has stimulated a multiplicity of innovations for the virtual hosting of major events (e.g. iVent(3), vFairs(4), et al ). These solutions are fantastic but will not, in our opinion, replace the roar of the bar and smell of the crowd. We expect that the social imperative will prevail when public health restrictions abate, and so the preferred option for major events will be strictly analogue in the foreseeable future.
Small virtual events (e.g. Special Interest Group meetings via ZOOM), lasting no more than a couple of hours are being adopted as positive enhancements to the scientific landscape and are likely to remain as enduring fixtures in our diaries long after the pandemic has been brought under control.
The Roar of the Bar and the Smell of the Crowd!
The social imperative impels us to seek out the company of our peers, to vigorously discuss our science face-2-face and engage in networking activities. The desire of our community to resume traditional events, in the short term, is undeniable!
Simulating major events on-line, with current technology, has little traction with either prospective delegates or sponsors. Our members are resolute in their wish to see traditional analogue events revived. Our sponsors have made it clear that supporting virtual events is very hard for them to justify on the basis of ROI, …and we do not detect that that view is softening.
The BMSS conducted a member and community e-survey in March 2020: “Adapting to the Challenge” (5). The objective was to gauge the community appetite for a virtual alternative to the Society’s classic 3-day Annual Meeting scheduled for September 2020. The results were illuminating; a small subset of enthusiastic members was very much in favor, the majority were agnostic, and most chillingly the majority of the Society’s sponsors & supporters were very skeptical. So in light of the received feedback the Society elected to eschew a virtual alternate to its classic Annual Meeting in 2020.
Project yourself forward a decade to a time where the internal combustion engine may have become a relic, you home will be heated by a super efficient heat pump, broadband of gargantuan bandwidth is universally available, and carbon hungry air travel will be déclassé.
In 2031, technology permitting, we may be able to engage in satisfyingly holographic virtual event experiences. Moreover the combination of most institutions’ inclination to cut travel budgets (whenever a pretexts arises), and the leading nations’ stated intent to extinguish their carbon footprints may prefigure the twilight of the traditional international scientific meeting.
In 2031 only the elite of our community may be invited/ permitted to travel (with appropriate carbon offsetting) to a glamorous location, conference with their peers, and enjoy a tincture on the terrace before a terroir specific dinner.
The privilege of encountering new science/colleagues/places/cultures/ foods at first hand (that was part and parcel of the traditional ECR’s professional trajectory) may become a relic of the past. This may have implications for social mobility and professional inclusion for a generation or more!
Attendance at international conferences (e.g. ASMS, IMSC, etc.) has become part of our community’s culture. As we all know, in response to the pandemic, most major airlines have mothballed or scrapped significant portions of their fleets (e.g. BA’s Queen of the Skies 747-400). The rollout of viable vaccines may well open the door to a renewed freedom to travel, and thus unleash pent-up demand to do so! It is possible therefore that demand for seats my outstrip supply in the foreseeable future and so average ticket prices may be expected to rise.
The BMSS, and analogous societies, have established programs to provide assistance to their members (typically ECRs) to facilitate their participation at international conferences. So the projected increase in the price of air travel combined with the recent paucity of charitable income presents our Society with a cash flow challenge.
Looking to the Immediate Future with Pragmatic Optimism
Reviving traditional scientific events is fraught with challenges! The recent announcement of the UK Roadmap to Exit Lockdown is fantastic news - however that will not solve the scientific event organizers’ challenge in 2021! Travel policies (and marketing budgets) were crystalized Ca 4Q2020. Coming off of a tough year in 2020 budgets have been cut to the bone, and thus prospective delegates & sponsors will be hard to recruit.
The near future is not without optimism! For example our colleagues in the Irish Mass Spectrometry Society (IMSS) are vigorously pursuing the option to hold the 5th IMSF International Mass Spectrometry School within 2021(6). Similarly the BMSS is striving to revive its Annual Meeting in 2021 with a hybrid 2-day event in September as a stepping-stone to a classic 3-day meeting in 2022.
The path to reviving analogue scientific events in 2021 will be turbulent! The organizers involved may rationalize their experiences’ post facto as a right of passage, … and so we hope that colleagues will
excuse the pun(7), …fasten your seatbelts it’s going to be a bumpy right!
Acknowledgment:
This article is adapted from a text originally published in Spectroscopy Europe World Volume 33 Issue 1 (2021). DOI: 10.1255/sew.2021.a3
References:
1. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ‘Lenin’, Russian Head of Government (1917-1924): www.goodreads.com/ quotes/342783-there-are-decadeswhere-nothing-happens-and-thereare-weeks
2. British Mass Spectrometry Society (2021): www.bmss.org.uk/ meetings/
3. iVent (2020): www.ivent-uk.com/ conferences
4. vFairs (2020): www.vfairs.com/
5. British Mass Spectrometry Society (2021): https://www.bmss.org.uk/covid-19adapting-to-the-challenge/
6. Irish Mass Spectrometry Society (2021): http://imss2021.uk/
7. 20th Century Fox ‘All About Eve’, Joseph L. Mankiewicz & Darryl F. Zanuck (1950): www.youtube.com/ watch?v=yKHUGvde7KU
Andrea F. Lopez-Clavijo Head of Facility - Lipidomics, Babraham Institute
Lipidomics is a field that is attracting increasing interest within the BMSS community. Interestingly, the analysis of lipids by mass spectrometry has been carried out for more than six decades, with activity growing in the UK. We know that lipids make up membranes, store energy in the form of lipid droplets, and play vital roles in cellular signalling. The Babraham Institute has played a role in investigating lipid signalling, in particular with the work of Len Stephens and Phillip Hawkins understanding PI3K signalling at both conceptual and cell-specific levels. Additionally, the legacy of Michael Wakelam on understanding how changes in lipids degree of
unsaturation is important for Hepatitis B and C virus entry and replication 1
Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of lipids is at the core of lipidomics research, which consist of obtaining a lipid profile (or lipidome) accompanied by the translation of the results into biological meaning. Lipidomics SIG aims to include researchers in the field of MS fundamentals to elucidate lipid structure, double bond position within the acyl chain, oxidation, and acyl chain composition of complex lipids. Lipid identification is also followed by relative and/ or absolute quantitation of the lipid levels of a "before" sample and an "after" sample, and then comparison of the data sets to see what has changed. Comparing hundreds of lipid molecular species is challenging and lipidomics SIG will
bring together bioinformaticians and statisticians to find significant differences in the data sets. Finally, finding connections (Figure 1) and the important biological relevance of the results (lipidomics) integrates biochemist and molecular cell biologist.
SIG goals
Lipidomics lacks guidelines for best practice in the collection of experimental data, its interpretation, normalisation to sample size, and data reporting. This SIG aims to address this urgent unmet need, while also providing a forum for the dissemination of the latest research in the field and fostering further collaboration and networking amongst the community. Use of databases that contain identified lipid subclasses as dictated in the classification/nomenclature proposed by the LIPID MAPS® Lipidomics gateway consortium will also be encouraged.
The BMSS SIG team will facilitate a virtual meeting, where PhDs and early career researchers will be able to present to in an amicable and enabling environment. We hope to expose all delegates to the freshest emerging science from worldwide research groups. We will be happy to hear from you to participate in the event of this new BMSS SIG.
Contact us:
Andrea Lopez: andrea.lopez@ babraham.ac.uk
Bebiana Da Costa Sousa: Bebiana. DaCostaSousa@babraham.ac.uk
Reference
Zhuang X, Magri A, Hill M, et al. The circadian clock components BMAL1 and REV-ERBα regulate flavivirus replication. Nat Commun. 2019;10(1):377. Published 2019 Jan 22. doi:10.1038/s41467-01908299-7.
Diane Taylor
Research Assistant - Lipidomics Facility, Babraham Institute
I was due to start my job in April 2020, but because of the circumstances within the country at the time I was not able to start any laboratory training until July 2020. Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect for anyone, but starting a new job in the middle of a pandemic adds quite a few more challenges. The pandemic itself was made even more real to me when the head of facility, who had interviewed me, passed away just weeks before I was due to start.
It was to be and still is a rather steep learning curve for me. I had been taught the theory of mass spectrometry at university many years ago, but had neither seen nor used a mass spectrometer until I started at the Institute. My manager provided a recap of the basic principles of mass spectrometry via zoom during the first week on site, so at least I felt a bit more prepared. One of my many tasks is to look after the mass spectrometers: Orbitrap technology (ThermoScientific) and triple Quadrupole (SCIEX). My training started by shadowing the Post-Doctoral Research Scientist, and on some occasions my line manager, for at least 3 months. I also learned how to calibrate the Orbitrap mass spectrometer as this would be one of my weekly responsibilities.
SOP’s
Unfortunately, there were very few in-house protocols, so I observed how to do each task at a distance from behind a face
mask and visor, and made notes. It was then up to me to write standard operating procedures (SOP’s). The best way to learn is by doing, through a process of trial and error, which is what I did and I am pleased to say I am now able to perform instrument calibration, troubleshoot, and quality control the instruments quite confidently according to my comprehensively written SOP’s.
Learning the theory of mass spectrometry is one thing, but operating a mass spectrometer so as to obtain meaningful results is quite a different matter entirely. So, I am very glad to be working with people who are able and willing to pass on their extensive knowledge to me. I am now learning to interpret mass spectra results. I can also perform
several different lipid extractions and operate both LC’s and MS’s effectively. It is just the beginning of an exciting and challenging field = lipidomics and mass spectrometry!
Bebiana C. Sousa
Postdoctoral
Research Scientist
Babraham Institute
Lipid Classification
Lipids are a very distinct group of biomolecules with diverse biological functions, structures, and chemistry. Lipids are known to be the principal form of energy storage for many organisms and the major building blocks of biological membranes along with being anchors for proteins, enzyme cofactors, hormones, and intracellular signalling molecules. The widely accepted classification system proposed by LIPID MAPS consists of eight lipid categories: fatty acyls (FA), glycerolipids (GL), glycerophospholipids (GP), sphingolipids (SP), sterol lipids (ST), prenol lipids (PR), saccharolipids (SL), and polyketides (PK). Each category has its own classification hierarchy into main class and subclass (Figure 1). This system is constantly being updated and can
Figure 1. Lipid classification system according to LIPID MAPS® Lipidomics Gateway website. Names of lipid
be accessed on the LIPID MAPS® Lipidomics Gateway website (www. lipidmaps.org).
Lipid diverse functions
Fatty acyls (FA) are hydrocarbon derivatives with variable length aliphatic chains, which can be saturated (no double bonds), monounsaturated (MUFA’s), or polyunsaturated (PUFA’s). For example, arachidonic acid, is a fatty acid with subclasses used in this figure include lipid synonyms, common names, and shorthand notation.
20 carbon atoms and four double bonds, represented as 20:4. FA 20:4 is a known precursor to signalling molecules involved in inflammation, such as eicosanoids and prostaglandins. Additionally, the oxidation of FA is highly exergonic conferring them an energy production role. FA are commonly found esterified to glycerol units to form glycerolipids (GL). For instance,
Triacylglycerols (TG) are composed of three fatty acyls connected by ester linkages to glycerol. TG are hydrophobic and can be found in lipid droplets in the cytosol or adipocyte, acting as the major source of cellular energy storage. In contrast, glycerophospholipids (GP) are amphipathic, meaning that one part of the molecule is hydrophobic (the acyl chains) and the other part is hydrophilic (head group). The amphipathic nature of GP directs their packing into biological membrane bilayers.
Sphingolipids (SPB) also have fatty acyl chains and a polar head, however, the backbone is a sphingosine base. SPB have established roles in signalling, while sphingomyelin (SM) is a structural component of biological membranes. Cholesterol, the most abundant sterol (ST) in mammals, is also present in cellular mammalian membranes and it is a precursor for steroid hormones and bile acids.
Other sterols, such as ergosterol and stigmasterol, can be found in fungi and plants, respectively. Prenol (PR) lipids have a similar biosynthetic pathway as ST, however, they have different structures and biological roles. Saccharolipids (SL) are produced by plants, bacteria and fungi, and comprise fatty acyl chains linked to a sugar backbone. Similarly, polyketides (PK) are secondary metabolites also found in bacteria, fungi and plants, and have numerous applications such as antibacterial and antitumor properties.
The complexity and diversity of the lipidome in biological samples presents a challenge to its analysis. Additionally, each lipid subclass molecular species is present at different concentrations making it difficult to quantify some of the lower abundance lipids (Figure 2a). Lipid extraction, enrichment, derivatisation, and chromatographic separation prior to MS analysis are crucial in tackling the dynamic range of the lipids, and producing high resolution, selective and reproducible results (Figure 2b and 2c). Shotgun lipidomics avoids time-consuming steps, like chromatography. However, the major lipid classes such as GP can compete for ionization resulting in ion suppression of low abundant lipids.
The presence, location of double bonds, and their geometry (Z (cis) or E (trans)), add complexity to lipid analysis as shown in Figure 3. For example, tumours use a metabolic pathway that results in the production of fatty acid 18:1(8Z) instead of 18:1(9Z) under a normal SCD1 (stearoyl-CoA desaturase) catalysed reaction (Snaebjornsson and Schulze, 2019).
Additionally, lipids exist as positional isomers with acyl chains at the sn-1 or sn-2 positions of the glycerol backbone. In mammals there is usually an unsaturated short-chain acyl chain located in position sn-1 and a mono or poly unsaturated species is located in position sn-2 of the glycerol backbone of GL. For example, PA 18:0/20:4 and PA 18:1/20:3 both have an m/z 723.497 (Figure 3a and 3c). So, it is necessary to use diverse fragmentation techniques, which should take place within the time frame of the LC run and target low abundant species to distinguish between isomers.
References
Snaebjornsson, M. T. and Schulze, A. (2019) 'Tumours use a metabolic twist to make lipids', Nature, 566(7744), pp. 333-334.
Figure 2. a. Lipids total levels in HUH7 cells; b. Reverse phase C8 CSH column chromatographic separation of neutral lipid classes including triacylglycerol (TG), diacylglycerol (DG) and their plasmalogens (O-TG and O-DG), cholesterol (CH) and cholesterol ester (CE); c. Spectrum of triacylglycerol molecular species in HUH7 cells.
Figure 3. Isomers of phosphatidic acid molecular specie PA 38:4. The same acyl chain composition can scramble between sn-1 and sn-2 positions producing position isomers (a and b). Different acyl chains make up the same total carbons and total unsaturation numbers (a and c).
15-20 AUGUST 2021 BELFAST NORTHERN
The International Mass Spectrometry Foundation (IMSF) and the Irish Mass Spectrometry Society (IMSS) with the support of the British Mass Spectrometry Society (BMSS) & Ulster University invite you to IMSS 2021.
Babraham Institute
A remote studentship is a daunting task. As many of you can attest, working from home can be a challenging prospect; technical problems impact your productivity. The number of distractions is greater and it can be hard to communicate effectively online. These issues are compounded further by the stress of starting something new. However, I was willing to meet all of these challenges head on in order to learn about an exciting application of analytical chemistry.
As a recent graduate from Imperial College London I was looking for an opportunity, like this one, to explore different fields of chemistry that I was not exposed to as part of my degree. My final year was spent in an air-sensitive, inorganics synthesis group and as such I felt that I had a lot to gain by learning about a more biological application of chemistry. Like many people I also wanted my work to have meaning and this studentship fulfilled both of these criteria perfectly and would help determine which direction I would like my career to take.
Through funding from the British Mass Spectrometry Society (BMSS) and the Chromatography Society (ChromSoc), I was granted the
privilege of joining the Babraham Institute for a remote studentship in the Lipidomics research facility. Lipidomics is a challenging field which employs analytical chemistry tools, and in particular mass spectrometry, to study the structure and function of lipids. The implications of understanding lipids are far reaching, from identifying biomarkers of diseases to exploring how our diets/ageing are affecting us, and it was this that both motivated my application and sustained my interest throughout my six weeks at the Institute. The remote nature of the work meant I could not experience the practical side of lipidomics so instead I was tasked with the other side of lipidomics: mass spectra analysis, data processing, and biological interpretation to determine how knocked out genes impact the lipidome.
As part of the studentship, I learned a lot very quickly. Before beginning the analysis, it was important that I understood how mass spectrometry worked. I spent a very interesting week discussing with Dr LopezClavijo the practicalities of mass spectrometry, something that prior to this studentship I had very little experience of. We discussed everything from the guts of the machine to the reasoning behind why the Orbitrap mass analyser is more appropriate for some applications than the more sensitive SCIEX tandem mass spectrometer.
I also learnt how to analyse the data manually and using a range of different software: Xcalibur, Multiquant, Lipid Data Analyser to automate peak picking, R-studio, MATLAB, and GraphPad. Additionally, usage of fold-changes, to represent the proportional relationship between each control
and mutant, and BioPAN (LIPID MAPS® Lipidomics Gateway) to find activated/supressed genes was explored. I was also exposed to some of the thrilling work done at the Institute via the online seminars, which were absolutely fascinating to someone from a chemistry background!
It would be a lie to say that the studentship was always easy, but the excellent team of people I worked with made the experience very enjoyable. I would like to thank the following people from the science facility: Diane Taylor for keeping me company, motivating me and making sure that my analysis was going well; Dr. da Costa Sousa for her help in understanding the biological underpinnings of the work; and finally Dr. Lopez-Clavijo for her endless patience, excellent explanations, and for giving me a chance to work on such an exciting project. Last but not least, to the memory of Michael J. O. Wakelam who believed in transferring his love for lipids and mass spectrometry to the next generation.
David Heywood Waters Corporation
It feels like we are entering the next phase for Lipidomics and we could be on the brink of something big. Our stars are aligning through the fantastic community efforts such as the Lipidomics Society and Lipidomics Standards Initiative. But importantly our analytical tools are stepping up too. Just at the right time.
Each Omics discipline has forged a slightly different path. Each has been born out of slightly different backgrounds and has evolved to support the characteristics of the molecular classes being studied and each has benefited from community sharing, organization and developments in chromatography and mass spectrometry.
Lipidomics has walked its own path but has similarities to both metabolomics and proteomics. The lipidome is often considered a subset of the metabolome mainly due to the average molecular
weight of a typical lipid (if there is such a thing as a typical lipid) but in terms of biological function they have significant similarity to the biological significance of proteins. Once understood as an energy storage vehicle, we now have a much greater understanding of their roles in cell structure and signalling. For example, we now understand the role of lipid mediators being bioactive, how they are produced in response to inflammation and how they are involved in processes which are important for returning cells to a healthy state.
The molecular building block structure of lipids has always offered a tantalizing array of opportunities for the analytical scientist whilst in the same breath, their wide spectrum of physio-chemical properties introduces unique challenges.
Why Lipid Chromatography isn’t straightforward
Understanding the structure of lipids leads to the realisation that there is tremendous scope for
complexity with isomeric and isobaric overlap. Chromatography has had a somewhat ‘strained’ relationship with lipids. For example, phosphorylated and carboxylated lipids are challenging species shown to be metal sensitive, “sticky” lipids that can be readily absorbed to metal surfaces with the flow path of most chromatographic systems. This leads to poor peak shape, low recovery, reduced sensitivity, and suspect or problematic assay-to-assay reproducibility. Incomplete recovery from the wetted components of an LC system compromises detection efficiency due to metal ions interacting with the phosphate/carboxylate group via a Lewis acid/Lewis base interaction, which results in partial or even complete retention, poor peak shape and reduced sensitivity. Previously, volatile chelators have been implemented (e.g. citric, phosphonic and medronic acids) to improve the recovery of these lipid classes, however this approach can also have negative consequences in terms of chromatographic selectivity, in addition to ionisation suppression and hence impacting sensitivity.
An alternative tactic might be to remove chromatography all together, such as in the flow injection shotgun lipidomics approaches made popular by the Schevchenko lab, alleviating the reproducibility issues of early chromatographic performance. More recently the application of a surrogate to chromatography in the form of differential mobility such as in SCIEX’s Lipidyzer has shown the ability to accommodate 100’s of lipid species in one analytical method without worrying about the array of chemical interactions in a column. However, if we can get around these chromatographic challenges, the analytical method will benefit from increased peak capacity and reduced competition for ionisation which may otherwise lead to suppression or even enhancement of certain lipid ions. Chromatography can even separate isomers!
Thankfully the latest column and chromatographic systems show improved performance for lipidbased separations, particularly for
phosphorylated and carboxylated species.
Surface Modification Technology
Changes the Name of the Game in /Chromatography
Implementation of a hybrid organic/inorganic barrier surface technology to metal substrates, which is based on an ethylenebridged siloxane polymer, is shown to be particularly suited for reversed-phase (RP) and hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC). Fig.1 shows the improved chromatographic performance provided by this barrier surface technology for an example LPA with the Waters ACQUITY PREMIER column and LC system.
Of course, the other advantage of ion mobility is it can actually tell us something about the molecule, namely the collisional cross section. There is a lot of interest at the moment with the application of artificial intelligence to the prediction of CCS values. A recent paper describing a probabilistic study by Colorado State University and Waters (2) used machine learning approaches to model the CCS values for the entire metabolome of various matrices (urine, serum, faeces and food). As well as the obvious physio-chemical property available for lipid and metabolite identification workflows, this modelled metabolome gives us an insight into the sample complexity challenge. The isobaric overlap of the library entries were mapped using mass and ion mobility resolution and showed that the addition of even a modest IMS resolution of 40, to an LC-MS analysis, can decrease overlap of near isobaric features, comparable to increasing mass resolution by 50%.
The Lipidomics Renaissance is Here
At present, liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry continue to advance at a fast pace. Combining both LC, ion mobility and mass spectrometry has a multiplicative effect on the total system peak capacity, uncovering more of the lipidome with greater and greater specificity aiding the
interpretation of complex data. However, this interpretation can only be done effectively with strong standardisation of methods, lipid nomenclature and reporting. Everything which is possible with the aid of community activities such as the recently launched International Lipidomics Society and the Lipidomics Standards Initiative. It’s certainly an exciting time to be researching lipid biology.
1. Giorgis Isaac and Robert S. Plumb, ACQUITY PREMIER LC Technology Significantly Improves Sensitivity, Peak Shape, and Recovery for Phosphorylated and Carboxylated Lipids, Waters Application Note, 720007092EN.
2. Corey D. Broeckling, Linxing Yao, Giorgis Isaac, Marisa Gioioso, Valentin Ianchis, and Johannes P.C. Vissers, Application of Predicted Collisional Cross Section to Metabolome Databases to Probabilistically Describe the Current and Future Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry, Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry Article ASAP, https:// doi.org/10.1021/jasms.0c00375.
3. Kelly L. Wormwood Moser, Gregory Van Aken, Daniel DeBord, Nathan Galen Hatcher, Laura Maxon, Melissa Sherman, Lihang Yao, Kim
Ekroos, High-defined quantitative snapshots of the ganglioside lipidome using high resolution ion mobility SLIM assisted shotgun lipidomics, Analytica Chimica Acta, Volume 1146, 2021, Pages 77-87, ISSN 0003-2670, https://doi. org/10.1016/j.aca.2020.12.022.
Fig 2. TWIMS based cyclic ion mobility separation of protonated free fatty acids with distinct double bond orientations, representing a mobility resolution of 335 (Ω/ΔΩ) from 20 passes.
4. Henderson, F., Jones, E., Denbigh, J. et al. 3D DESI-MS lipid imaging in a xenograft model of glioblastoma: a proof of principle. Sci Rep. 10, 16512 (2020). https:// doi.org/10.1038/s41598-02073518-x.
It’s Not All About Separations
For mapping the spatial distribution of lipids on a tissue surface with imaging mass spectrometry, nothing beats desorption electrospray ionization (DESI). This imaging technique paired with mass spectrometry compliments other imaging modalities such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and in many ways offers greater insights into biological processes such as tumour lipid metabolism.
The Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre at the University of Manchester recently collected DESI-MS from 15 tissue section layers every 120 µm from glioblastoma xenografts4. The data were combined and reconstructed to generate 3D DESI-MS images. Using multivariate analysis, this in-depth lipidomics data set was able to visualise areas of distinct lipid heterogeneity within the tumour.
Ashley Sage
Immediate Past Chair & Chair of the BMSS Advisory Board
Interviewed by Mervyn Lewis, Associate Editor.
How did you first get involved in mass spectrometry and then the BMSS?
My first experience of mass spectrometry was in the early 90’s when studying for my PhD. I was let loose on a then new VG/Fisons Trio 1000 GC-MS instrument which I used for the analysis of PAH’s in environmental samples. This instrument had a simple DOS based operating system, a huge 40kB of memory and was booted up using a 3.5” floppy disc! Very different from instruments today, especially around performance and computer power, but it got me started on the path of a career in mass spectrometry and subsequently instrument design and applications development. I thus started as an applications chemist at VG Micromass in Altrincham in 1997 working on single quad, triple quad and TOF mass spectrometry instruments. Since then, I have thoroughly enjoyed my career involved with the mass spectrometry industry and continue to do so. I have been fortunate to see many parts of the world, meet many talented scientists and be at the forefront of both instrument and applications development.
Regarding my involvement with BMSS, my first annual meeting was in 1999 at Reading Uni, which was a great experience from the use of mass spectrometry in scientific research but also from the ability to network with the wider mass spec community, which was growing at that time due to better commercial instruments being applied to many more applications, especially LC-MS. Since then, I have attended all
but one of the Annual Meetings as they have always been a great forum to learn about the use of mass spectrometry but also a great facility to continue to meet with friends and colleagues generally over a cold beer! In 2012, I put myself forward to join the BMSS committee and joined as a General Member. Subsequently, I became Treasurer, Vice-Chair and finished my tenure as Chair of the BMSS in 2020.
During your involvement with the BMSS, what do you think are the most significant changes you have seen in the Society and in the industry?
The use of mass spectrometry has significantly expanded over the period of my career. This has been down to instrument advancements in terms of performance, design and simplification of software to allow scientists to understand more about their research in terms of better data. Mass spectrometry was generally seen as a ‘difficult to use’ technology but today’s instruments are now so powerful and generally easy to use, they have been applied to many different applications. And I am confident that the use of MS will continue to expand over the coming years as new ways to analyse samples with MS will emerge.
The BMSS has continued to keep pace with the expanding industry and it has always been there for its members in terms of providing excellent conferences and training courses for early career researchers through to experienced scientists. One exciting change is with the growth of focused Special Interest Groups (SIGs). These have expanded over time, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 12 months have been a great way for colleagues to meet and still continue to hear about the use of
MS in science, even if it has been via the new world of on-line Zoom calls!
These have been greatly received and are a super way to keep the MS community in the UK engaged. Well done the BMSS committee to support and promote these key activities whilst hopefully we can all get back to some level of normal conferences in the future!
How has the BMSS evolved to reflect and adapt to these changes?
The BMSS has evolved to the ever-changing industry requirements whilst keeping the main aim of the Society and its constitution in mind. These include holding regular committee meetings to ensure the Society is run correctly and in-line with the
Charity Commission; developing and expanding the SIG groups; ensuring that the Annual Meetings continue to be a great forum for our members and exhibitors; providing an excellent training course annually; providing support to students to help with their early careers through the provision of travel grants for conference attendance, and the provision of funding for summer studentships. Since the pandemic hit in 2020, the BMSS has continued to meet its commitments albeit in a digital environment along with engagement of membership through the use of a completely new website. It’s also great to see the diverse and engaged nature of the committee make-up these days which I truly believe will continue to keep the BMSS fresh and adaptable for the years to come. But of course,
the BMSS continually seeks the next committee member to help drive the Society forward. If you are interested in moving the BMSS Society forward, I do hope you will consider putting your name forward!
Where do you hope to see the future of the UK mass spectrometry community?
I hope that the UK mass spectrometry will continue to grow and attract more members. The Society is constantly thinking of ways or providing better engagement, especially during this time of COVID-19, and I believe this has been apparent during the evolution of the SIG groups and the development of the on-line meetings. I’d also like to point out that the BMSS Society has always been hugely appreciative of the support provided by the instrument manufacturers and associated exhibitors over the years.
Without this support, many of the activities to support the UK mass spectrometry community would have not been possible. I hope that as BMSS continues to evolve the connections between BMSS, academia, industry and analytical instrument manufacturers/suppliers the UK MS community will continue to flourish. I truly believe having these important connections is the cornerstone to success.
What are your most lasting memories of your BMSS Committee tenure?
I have many lasting memories of being part of the BMSS Committee. Firstly, it’s being part of a passionate group of scientists who give up their spare time for free to run, organize and develop the Society for the good of its members and the science where mass spectrometry is used – from students, early career researchers, academic and industry scientists.
Secondly, it’s been an enjoyable journey of personal development too. I’ve learnt a lot about being a trustee of a Charitable organization, looking after the finances carefully as Treasurer and finally Chairing the Society to ensure the ship is running in the right direction – very rewarding experiences. And finally, it’s been a whole load of fun from working alongside my fellow BMSS colleagues and extended networks. Although 2020 meant that we weren’t able to hold the Annual Meeting, where I was hoping to go out with a big bang and a good old ‘knees-up’, my final and most enjoyable memory was presenting Alison Ashcroft with her BMSS Medal at the 2019 conference dinner in the spiritual home of Manchester. Slightly under the influence of red wine, having technical issues with the microphone and the fact that I couldn’t find my glasses to read my speech, I completely ad-libbed but was able to present the medal to Alison to her complete surprise.
The BMSS and UK MS community is a great place to be and long may it continue to flourish and grow. I will certainly continue to be part of it, even if my next chapter is outside the BMSS committee, and I look forward to seeing colleagues and friends over a drink or two at future Annual Meetings when life gets back to the new ‘norm’.
Ashley Sage PhD is Strategic Marketing & Business Development Manager for Markes International. In September 2020 he became the Immediate Past Chair of the BMSS and Chair of the Advisory Board, after his two-year term as BMSS Chair was completed.
Sergio Cancho Gonzalez PhD Student, University of Southampton
Interviewed by Mervyn Lewis, Associate Editor.
What was your impression of mass spectrometry when you were first introduced to it?
I was introduced to mass spectrometry in the third year of my degree as part of an organic chemistry laboratory. The compound was synthesised and analysed by UV, NMR and GC-EI-MS and the objective were to elucidate the structure of the synthesised compound by using the information obtained from all techniques. By solving these exercises at home, it helped me realise that I enjoyed pushing arrows when solving GC-EIMS problems, and it reminded me that I enjoyed solving puzzles when I was a child. I still see all of the analytical questions as puzzles that I need to solve.
What persuaded you that mass spectrometry could be a good career option for you? Were you attracted by an application of mass spectrometry or excited by the prospect of developing it as an instrumental technique?
I have always been driven by application. Inside me I always have had the feeling of giving something back to society, and the more I read about the pharmaceutical industry, the more interest I got. At the same time during my degree, chromatography was something I wanted to pursue, and mass spectrometry slowly came on its own because of the relationship between both techniques. When I use them combined, I can start thinking about how to solve this puzzle and what is the best technique to approach it. Sometimes doing a method development for a
new analytical application is like a Sudoku where you need to obtain all the numbers right (changes you make to the instrument) to ensure you can see the whole picture. I am happy I can solve this complex and challenging puzzles.
How did you go about finding your first opportunity in mass spectrometry?
My first opportunity was during my MSc project where after a talk with Dr Robert Bradshaw (University of Sheffield) I told him that I wanted to learn more about chromatography and mass spectrometry. The research projects offered by the university did not focus on this, so he helped me by launching a small project to investigate what is the best technique to quantify bisphenol A in food containers. This experience was exciting and helped me understand some of the challenges that occur during method development in the sample preparation, the separation (either liquid or gas chromatography) and the different detection (with flame ionisation detector, ultraviolet or electron ionisation mass spectrometry), or just using mass spectrometry on its own (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry). By undertaking this project, it certainly helped me realise that it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. A few months later, I started a PhD Chemistry with Prof. John Langley (University of Southampton) where I am characterising and quantifying complex poly(ethylene) glycols and their impurities in drug formulations using supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry. This program has certainly reinforced that I want to do mass spectrometry until I retire (or longer).
In what application fields do you see new opportunities in mass spectrometry?
I think that the characterisation and quantitation of complex mixtures are still really challenging, especially in the -omics (e.g., metabolomics, petroleomics or polymeromics) due to the issues related to the ionisation and the ion suppression. The development of ionisation sources that can deal with matrix effect issues will certainly help in this area. Moreover, the dynamic range is an unevolved area that I think relates to the ionisation event. If you think of ICP-MS you can obtain up to 6-7 orders of magnitude of quantitation with an ESI-MS method rarely passes 3-4 orders of magnitude. A clear change of mind in how we obtain ions from molecules is certainly required to overcome this challenge. Data processing also requires deep
research and a possible agreement between vendors and with individual research group software, i.e., a “Linux software for data processing”.
What is your opinion about the impact that automation and informatics will have on mass spectrometry?
This topic reminds to the past controversy when introducing autosamplers into the chromatographic system. I think we need to accept that technology is taking over and is there to help us as analysts to provide better and faster answers to complex questions. For example, in my PhD program, I am trying to separate the individual units of polymers (oligomers) to find the impurities present by minimising the ion suppression caused by the polymer. Using a data visualisation software has aided and sped up my data characterisation and
allows me to easily spot impurities in the sample. At the same time, developing the quantitation has been challenging, as most of the current software cannot deal with the complex mass spectra obtained. Each of the oligomers ionises forming multiply charge species (I call them “small proteins”). If you overlap all these mass spectra you obtain a more complex one that relates to the polymer. Now imagine you have more than one polymer in your sample. I think this just a few examples showing that automation and informatics will help our daily life and will help the analyst to achieve the work-life balance that we need to produce better ideas to solve more complex problems. Automation has proved in the past that it can help in routine analysis, minimising workload and moving the attention to research rather than the actual quality control user. The latest advances in artificial intelligence will facilitate and reduce data processing, especially for the simplest samples used in daily routine analysis, minimising the turnaround time to provide results. The integration of these two will help to make mass spectrometry as a more competitor technique in a high throughput platform. As they mention in Yan Victoria Zhang and Alan Rockwood review in 2015: “The future for MS is a bright one, and automation will put wings on this giant elephant, enabling it to fly”.
Could you describe your views on career prospects in mass spectrometry for young people?
Following a career in mass spectrometry is being a scientist with a bit of engineering. You need to be able to have a clarity of thought to understand what the instrument is doing and how to solve the pieces when you need to troubleshoot it. Certainly, it is a multidisciplinary area where you need to discuss your knowledge with people from different backgrounds with little to zero knowledge of the area, even chemistry. I think with mass spectrometry you can easily combine your passion and your work. The pharmaceutical, the petrochemical, the food or the environmental industries are some
of the most standard paths, but many other options are available from the waste management industry to archaeology or forensics, and still, there is a wide range of unexplored areas. I think that early specialisation in mass spectrometry is important to form a good next generation of mass spectrometrists, as a new group of more complex and challenging molecules are coming over to stay.
Sergio Cancho Gonzalez is a PhD Student at the University of Southampton working along with Prof. John Langley and Julie Herniman in a PhD program funded by AstraZeneca where he is characterising and quantifying poly(ethylene) glycols and their impurities in drug formulations using supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
The BMSS Lipidomics SIG invite you to join the group’s mailing list and receive ZOOM meeting invitations for events in 2021. Visit the Lipidomics SIG event page on the BMSS website for further details: www.bmss.org.uk/meetings