There are a couple of ASMS hardware launches this year that I’m not finding quite as simple to understand. Something like “this is 20% faster” is pretty straight forward. Something like “we’re allowing you to see a new math from the inside of this instrument now that every instrument we’ve manufactured for the last 18 years has generated, but we hid it, so now you should pay us a lot for us to unhide it because someone pointed out that charge detection is actually really cool” is a little less easy to understand. Oh. Actually, now that I typed it out I actually do understand that one better.
Changing topic! Let’s talk about 114 out of 117 of the acronyms on the Free Dictionary for the letter’s HT and let’s try to guess what it stands for on the new TIMSTOF based on what it is!
The TIMSTOF HT has a new (4th generation) TIMS cartridge. The vendor says higher dynamic range than generation 3.
It has a higher frequency digitizer which might be really super cool. In my head, I think that the limitation in resolution on TOFs is often how fast they are able to distinguish between an ion that gets there in 81 microseconds from one that gets there at 81.1 microseconds, so you need faster digitizers to get there. However, the best I can tell from the outside we haven’t heard about resolution increases. What we’ve heard about is loading micrograms of peptides on a TIMSTOF. On the Flex, we aim for 200 nanogram when using nanoflow rates. I think for some long gradient stuff we’ve went as high as 400 nanograms, but anything above that hurts us.
If maybe the TIMS is suited for high tension or heavy timber?
You really have to sort through a lot of these on Google images to find one that isn’t cringy.
Awesome! Okay, I bet it’s this, though.
Micrograms of load seems to better allow microliters of flow, which is what we need to get proteomics onto the ground of routine labs, which I’m excited to see is finally a hot topic.
Microliters of flow also allows us to typically get to lots more samples per day which will largely reduce cases of hypertension so common in vitamin D deficient mass spectrometrists.
Using higher flow rates allows us to spend less time tinkering with pesky nanoLC systems which would allow us to sleep better, therefore increasing our hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) levels? That’s pretty deep, maybe not that one? I’ll keep thinking about it on my commute.