Bruker Drives Ultrahigh-Resolution Qq-TOF Mass Spectrometry to New Performance Levels with Major Innovations in maxis(TM) Platform to be Showcased at ASMS 2011

Bruker, the pioneer of ultrahigh-resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, today announced a major extension of the successful maXis(TM) UHR Qq-TOF technology range, which Bruker will showcase at the ASMS 2011 conference in Denver, Colorado, starting this Sunday, June 5.

In March 2011, Bruker unveiled the revolutionary maXis 4G system, setting entirely new performance heights with record-breaking 60,000 full-sensitivity resolution (FSR) and 600 parts-per-billion (ppb) mass accuracy at UHPLC speed. The maXis 4G has the unique distinction of being the only simultaneous high-speed, ultrahigh resolution and full sensitivity mass spectrometer available today, with the dynamic range and quantitative capabilities needed for many small molecule and proteomics applications. The maXis 4G also excels in top-down and intact protein analysis.

At ASMS 2011, Bruker will now complement the record performance achievements of the maXis 4G by making uncompromised UHR-QqTOF performance available in an affordable, convenient format. The new maXis impact being introduced at ASMS is a robust, benchtop instrument with outstanding performance to bring the benefits of the unique maXis technology within reach of all research, quality control, contract and industrial laboratories.

ThemaXis impact has been designed for the new trend of precise mass screening, a technique first pioneered by Bruker's collaborators, the University of Helsinki Department of Forensic Medicine and now the leading emerging technique in forensic, drug doping and food safety applications, and included for the first time in the 2009 SANCO pesticide analysis guidelines. With an unbeatable performance/price ratio, the new maXis impact is designed to deliver unprecedented productivity to research, QC and contract laboratories.

Delivering 40,000 FSR and 1 ppm mass accuracy, while acquiring at up to 50 full spectra per second, the maXis impact is the instrument of choice for high-throughput test laboratories, many of which are already equipped with UHPLC separations to raise throughput. With remarkable MS/MS sensitivity even at low mass fragments, the maXis impact rivals traditional triple-quad instruments in trace analysis quantitation, while offering all the flexibility and information content of precise-mass assignment and ultra-high resolution at UHPLC speed simultaneously.

"The new maXis impact high sensitivity MS/MS capability boosts our bottom-up proteomics identification rates dramatically," commented Dr. Arnd Ingendoh, Bruker's Director of Proteomics. "Our customers can now dig deeper into the proteome with maXis technology, as well as with complementary techniques, including our class-leading MALDI-TOF/TOF systems, new glycomics tools, MALDI imaging and ETD fragmentation for PTM analysis."

Enhanced bottom-up identification in proteomics by combining complementary technologies will be revealed in detail at Bruker's breakfast workshop at 7:00AM on Monday, June 6th in Room 702 of the Denver Convention Center.

maXisTechnology Explained: Several design advances allow the maXis series to occupy a technology class all of its own, delivering the only simultaneous full sensitivity and high resolution (FSR) specification in the industry. Breaking the 20-year convention where longer TOF flight paths meant loss of sensitivity, the maXis series patented in-flight ion optics refocus ions even during the TOF process itself, and allow the full resolving potential of the long flight path to be utilised, unobstructed by multiple reflectrons or ion beam slicers which all degrade sensitivity significantly. Other high-end Qq-TOF systems may nominally reach high resolution, but only at the expense of a dramatic sensitivity loss suffered by relying on resolution-compensating work-arounds like ion beam slicing, multi-reflectrons, etc. Similarly, designs that use older detection technology to gain speed require signal-discarding devices to artificially 'restore' dynamic range, which destroy the ability to deal with coeluent analytes in complex mixtures.