Our equipment

The TimsTOF Pro mass spectrometer (Bruker) is equipped with an ion mobility module (Tims) that allows access to a 4th dimension: ion mobility (the three dimensions conventionally obtained being retention time (RT), ion mass (m/z) and ion intensity). This ionic mobility allows, for example, the differentiation of isobaric peptides with post-translational modifications. The very high acquisition speed and the sensitivity of this mass spectrometer will allow to reduce injection times and the quantities of samples analyzed (from 10 ng), while maintaining a very high level of identification and quantification of proteins in complex samples. The purchase of this mass spectrometer was accompanied by an investment in ion mobility data processing software: PEAKS (Bioinformatics Solutions Inc.). PAPPSO also implements this ion mobility with house made tools.

In December 2015, the PAPPSO platform acquired the first Fusion Lumos tribrid Orbitrap mass spectrometer installed in France. This latest generation mass spectrometer is equipped with three analyzers (quadrupole, trap, orbitrap), three fragmentation modes (CID, HCD, ETD) and thus has a very great versatility of analysis. The fragmentation mode unique to the Lumos: ETD HD (High Definition ETD) range makes it possible to increase the coverage of ions resulting from ETD fragmentation.

This mass spectrometer combines high acquisition speed and high resolution (MS and MS/MS). It is used to analyze very complex protein mixtures (identification and quantification) or to determine post-translational modifications.

The platform has 2 chromatographic systems for the separation of proteins / peptides upstream of LC-MS / MS analysis:

• Low pressure system (FPLC ÄKTA Purifier, Amersham)

  

  
  
• Low pressure system (HPLC Prominence, Shimadzu)

  

  
  

They are mainly used for the separation of phosphorylated peptides by cation exchange chromatography (SCX).