4. KONFERENCE ČESKÉ SPOLEČNOSTI PRO HMOTNOSTNÍ SPEKTROMETRII - Sborník abstraktů

Significance of the Topic

Mass spectrometry (MS) stands at the forefront of modern analytical chemistry, enabling sensitive, selective and high-throughput analysis of biomolecules, small organics, metals and materials. Its versatility—from ion‐mobility separations to ambient ionization, MALDI, LC‐MS, GC‐MS and imaging—drives innovation across proteomics, metabolomics, clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring and industrial analytics.

Objectives and Conference Overview

The 4th Conference of the Czech Society for Mass Spectrometry (April 15–17, 2015, Hradec Králové) convened leading experts to present advances in:

• Ion chemistry and gas‐phase reaction thermochemistry
• Ion‐mobility MS and bioaffinity approaches for protein misfolding and aggregation
• MALDI profiling of microorganisms, food products and clinical samples
• Quantitative proteomics using TMT, SILAC, LFQ and top‐down workflows
• Phosphopeptide enrichment and glycopeptide analysis via LC‐MALDI and ion‐landing
• Lipidomics and metabolomics by LC‐MS, GC‐MS, SIFT‐MS and imaging MS
• Clinical applications in gastro-esophageal disease, cancer biomarkers and metabolite diagnostics
• Structural MS: H/D exchange, chemical cross‐linking, native MS and IRMPD spectroscopy
• New ambient and surface MS methods: nanoDESI, laser ablation ICP-MS

Methodologies and Instrumentation

Key methodologies showcased include:

• Affinity‐ and ion‐mobility MS on Synapt platforms to dissect protein oligomers and post-translational modifications
• Guided ion beam tandem MS (GIBMS) for lanthanide/actinide cation thermochemistry
• SIFT-MS for direct breath analysis of VOC biomarkers such as carboxylic acids and methanol (aspartame metabolism)
• MALDI-TOF MS profiling for rapid microbial identification and food authentication
• LC‐MALDI and LC‐ESI tandem MS on high-resolution Orbitrap and Q-TOF instruments for quantitative proteomics and lipidomics
• H/D exchange coupled with LC-MS and capillary electrophoresis for conformational dynamics
• Chemical cross‐linking and MS/MS for mapping protein–protein interfaces (e.g. 14-3-3ζ, cytochrome P450 complexes)
• Ambient ionization techniques (nanoDESI, SALD-ICP-MS) for direct analysis of lipids, metals and nanoparticles

Main Results and Discussion

Highlights include:

• Discovery of autoproteolytic α-synuclein fragments linked to Parkinson aggregation by IM-MS
• Direct quantitation of intact proteins on triple quadrupole MS through optimized MRM workflows
• Revised bond energies for Sm+ and Th+ complexes elucidating reaction barriers in CH₄ dehydrogenation
• SIFT-MS breath acetic acid as a noninvasive GERD marker and phenolic acids for esophago-gastric cancer screening
• Development of LC-MALDI phosphopeptide “ambient ion-landing” for in-situ enrichment and complementary coverage to affinity methods
• Advancements in ultra-fast SPE-MS/MS for tyrosine kinase inhibitor monitoring and automated metabolomics platforms (MetaboAuto)
• Structural MS integration with NMR and IRMPD to model glycosylated proteins (haptoglobin, C-type lectins) in silico and in solution

Benefits and Practical Applications

These advances enable:

• Faster, more robust biomarker quantification in clinical workflows
• Deeper structural insights into protein folding, aggregation and drug targets
• Enhanced environmental and food safety screening through ambient MS
• Automated metabolite profiling for high-throughput diagnostics
• Noninvasive disease monitoring via breath and imaging mass spectrometry

Future Trends and Potential Uses

Ongoing and future directions include:

• Integration of ion mobility and MS imaging for multidimensional molecular maps
• Development of bespoke ambient ionization sources for real-time, in-field analyses
• AI‐driven data processing and spectral tree libraries for novel metabolite and high-order structure elucidation
• Expansion of automated sample preparation platforms for high-throughput proteomics and metabolomics
• Multi‐omics convergence: combining MS with NMR, PET and optical imaging for holistic cell and tissue phenotyping

Conclusion

The conference underscored mass spectrometry’s central role in cutting-edge research across chemistry, biology and medicine. Continued innovation in instrumentation, workflows and data analytics promises to accelerate discovery and translate MS solutions into real-world healthcare, environmental and industrial applications.

References

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