New MS platform advances structural and spatial omics

Waters Corporation has introduced a mass spectrometry platform designed to give researchers deeper insight into complex biological systems by combining advanced structural analysis with spatial omics capabilities in a single workflow.

The new Cyclic IMS P20 Mass Spectrometer integrates multipass ion mobility spectrometry with a range of fragmentation and molecular imaging techniques, enabling scientists to investigate subtle molecular changes linked to disease, including protein misfolding and post-translational modifications.

Designed to support increasingly complex drug discovery and biomarker research, the system delivers a more than tenfold increase in MS/MS sensitivity compared with earlier platforms, alongside an extended mass range exceeding 100 kDa. The instrument also combines MALDI and DESI imaging technologies, allowing detailed visualisation of proteins, lipids, peptides and small molecules directly within biological samples.

The platform enables researchers to generate detailed molecular maps from a single experiment, improving the study of tissue microenvironments, biomarker discovery, lipidomics and translational research.

Professor Kostas Thalassinos from University College London, who has been using the system to study protein misfolding linked to human disease, said the improved sensitivity allows researchers to investigate rare low-abundance molecular species in far greater detail, significantly accelerating analysis workflows.

The Cyclic IMS P20 Mass Spectrometer was showcased at ASMS 2026 ahead of global availability later this year.

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