Mass Spec Down Under: IMSC Is Here!

It is nearly time for the 25th International Mass Spectrometry Convention in Melbourne, Australia. 

For those of you making the trip from Europe or the USA, we’ve picked out a selection of talks you won’t want to miss. For those who couldn’t make it, we hope the links to articles featuring many of the big-name speakers at the show will quell any lingering FOMO.

Also, don’t miss our series of interviews with this year’s IMSC organizers, who discuss their research interests alongside what they’re most looking forward to at the conference (scroll down to the end for links). 

 Enjoy! 

Our top picks for…
 

Day 1 – Sunday, August 18

IMSC kicks off on Sunday with the 4:30 PM in Plenary 3 for the opening ceremony and a proper Aussie welcome: a didgeridoo performance by Wurundjeri Elder Ian Hunter. Next up, the first plenary lecture from a true mass spec superstar, Carol Robinson. We Sat Down With Carol in 2019.

“I felt a huge responsibility to show that women can flourish in this field, and I would say that I have achieved that. Today, the ratio of male to female professors is more even, and it’s great to see so many women on the programs for key conferences and so on, but – of course – there is still some way to go. To any women considering entering this field, I say go for it!”

Day 2 – Monday, August 19

It’s hard to look past Monday’s plenary speakers. However, unless you’re in possession of a Time Turner, you’ll have some tricky decisions to make… Fortunately, we’ve spoken to four of Monday’s keynote speakers to find out about their talks – as well as their research interests more broadly. Below we share some quotes from the article, which you can read in full here. 

Yu Xia, Tsinghua University, on Empowering Structural Lipidomics with Isomer-Resolved Mass Spectrometry (10:00 AM, Plenary 3): “I will demonstrate that isomer quantitation at detailed structural levels suffers less from interpersonal variation and enables more sensitive discovery of differential lipids for disease phenotyping.” 

Anne K. Bendt, National University of Singapore, on Clinical Translation of Lipidomics – a

Case Study (3:00 PM, Plenary 3): “As researchers, we can learn a great deal from mass spectrometrists working in diagnostic labs, especially for quality control. One useful concept is ring trials, or interlaboratory studies. I will highlight ongoing ring trials, organized by the lipidomics community, that hopefully pave the way for clinical translation of lipid panels.” 

Melanie Downs, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (3:00 PM, Meeting Room 106): “MS methods can provide the type of accurate and precise quantification of food allergen proteins that is critical in order for food manufacturers and regulatory authorities to feel confident implementing risk-based policies for food allergen management.” 

Chris Gill, Vancouver Island University, on Harm Reduction Drug Checking by Quantitative Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry: Where are we Now? (3:00 PM, Meeting Room 109): “This work has grown from an academic curiosity to a publicly available on-site service here in British Columbia, with well over 20,000 drug checks provided at no cost for people who use drugs since fall 2019. PS-MS is simple to use, provides rapid measurements that are specific, sensitive and quantitative, and can not only measure “targeted drugs,” but also identify new threats that constantly appear in the illicit drug supply.”

I’d also like to highlight Michal Holčapek’s talk – it’s right after Yu Xia’s keynote in Plenary 3 – which will cover a CLIG interlaboratory study on the harmonization of lipid concentrations in human plasma. Michal was featured in last year’s “Mass Spec in the Clinic” cover feature, where he highlighted the importance of lipidomics in clinical research – and shared his work in cancer diagnosis. Michal said: 

“Compared with genomics, there are some interesting advantages to exploring the phenotype; the lipidome is closer to the function in the omics cascade, so it offers a higher chance of discovering biomarkers of ongoing or early disease in the human body – as already demonstrated for cancer and cardiovascular diseases.”

Day 3 – Tuesday, August 20

It will definitely be worth setting an alarm to get to the show for Jana Roithová’s (Radboud University Netherlands) plenary talk at 8:30 AM. We also spoke with Jana as part of our IMSC speaker roundtable. She said: 

“At IMSC, I will discuss using mass spectrometry and cryogenic ion spectroscopy to study electrocatalytic reactions and discover new reactions. Electrocatalytic reactions are gaining prominence not only in traditional applications such as CO2 reduction and fuel cells, but also in organic synthesis. Mass spectrometry offers significant advantages in studying these reactions due to its excellent sensitivity.”

Next, after your morning tea break, Lisa Jones, University of California San Diego, is our pick for the 10:00 AM slot (Meeting Room 105). Her talk is on In-Cell Protein Footprinting Coupled with Mass Spectrometry for Structural Biology Across the Proteome. We Sat Down With Lisa a couple of years ago where she discussed her work combining biochemistry and analytical chemistry to align method development with the unique challenges of biology. “Having a foot in both camps has been very helpful – I can cover a range of technologies without necessarily having to seek collaborators,” she said. 

In the afternoon, Perdita Barran will be giving a talk (in Meeting Room 109, 3:00 PM). At the time of writing, the title of her talk is yet to be announced. But having attended a couple of Perdita’s talks this year on her groundbreaking work on Parkinson’s disease – in brief, she is developing a mass spectrometry-based test by analyzing sebum swabbed from a person’s neck and back – I am confident in recommending that you attend. 

Day 4 – Wednesday, August 21

Sports doping and homeland security are two topics that couldn’t be timelier, so you won’t want to miss Wednesday’s morning session, chaired by Mario Thevis (Meeting Room 109). Mario has written several articles for The Analytical Scientist, most recently on the “next frontier” in sports doping: gene doping. In 2022, he said: “Whether or not athletes have been employing gene doping methods to date is difficult to say – but it is vital to continue working on analytical methods that support anti-doping tests to minimize that risk.” 

It will be interesting to see what progress has been made in this area over the past couple of years – both in terms of the methodology and the cheaters! Fortunately, at 11:41 AM, Bruce Pui-nam will be giving a talk on gene doping control analysis of human erythropoietin transgene in equine plasma by PCR-liquid chromatography high resolution tandem mass spectrometry. 

Just prior, Conor Jenkins’s talk – “Soldier-on-a-Chip: Biomarker Identification through Multiomic Analyses of Chemical and Biological Threat Exposures to Model Organ-on-Chip Systems” – sounds intriguing…

Day 5 – Thursday, August 22

There are a few hot topics to choose from on Thursday. In the afternoon, Isabelle Fournier is chairing a session on imaging mass spectrometry. We recently published an article by Boone Prentice on this very subject, where he discusses the latest trends and challenges in the field – so I know this is an interesting area. 

I’ve also got my eye on Rena Robinson’s morning keynote (Plenary 3) on Pushing the Limits of Quantitative Proshibteomics to Advance Alzheimer’s Research. Last year, we spoke to Rena about health disparities in Alzheimer’s disease, new mass spec tech, and whether we’re moving in the right direction with representation. Rena is also chairing the afternoon session on Neurodegeneration and Aging. Emma Schymanski’s closing talk (4:41 PM) – Can Small Molecules Provide Clues on Disease Progression in Cerebrospinal Fluid from Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease Patients? – looks to be worth sticking around for! 

 Day 6 – Friday, August 23

Friday morning’s Distinguished Keynote Speaker is none other than Nobel Prize laureate, Koichi Tanaka, who will share his innovation lessons learned – “Inventions and Innovation Do Not Occur in a Vacuum” is the title of his talk). If that tickles your fancy, last year we asked the 2023 Power List’s “Innovators and Trailblazers” about the key qualities that define an innovator, and collated their answers here. 

I’ve also got my eye on Evan Williams’s talk immediately after Plenary 3, which is on charge-detection mass spectrometry – “Mass and Conformation of Really Big Things.” CD-MS has extended the range of MS to gigadalton-sized viruses and polymers; and with a commercial instrument in development and exciting new applications in complex protein mixtures, maturity beckons… (We have an upcoming feature on this topic, so watch this space!). 

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