Released on: February 26, 2008, 3:54 am

Press Release Author: Cerno Bioscience

Industry: Software

Press Release Summary: Cerno Bioscience in cooperation with Dr. Christian Wold of
SABIC Innovative Plastics have succeeded in demonstrating the ability to perform
formula ID on a Thermo Scientific LCQ Deca Max ion trap mass spectrometer.

Press Release Body: Using MassWorksT sCLIPS (self Calibrated Lineshape Isotope
Profile Search), the latest addition to the MassWorks mass spectrometry software
suite, the researcher was able to identify a set of trial compounds to within a top
few compounds from a list of hundreds of formula candidates. MassWorks was
originally launched in 2006, and received the prestigious Editors' Choice Bronze
Award at PITTCON 2006. MassWorks is an easy-to-use post acquisition software system
using Cerno's patented MSIntegrity calibration technology to work directly with data
from a wide range of mass spectrometers.

Formula ID normally requires accurate mass measurements typically provided by high
resolution Time-of-Flight (TOF), Orbitrap or FT-ICR instrumentation. Ion traps
typically cannot provide accurate mass measurements due to physical limitations of
the ion trap analyzer, particularly in the older 3D trap designs such as the
instrument used in this study. However, the cooperation with Dr. Wold has
demonstrated that by carefully controlling the ion trap conditions, it is possible
to attain high spectral accuracy which is suitable in itself for Formula ID. The
approach utilizes Cerno's sCLIPS technology to correct the instrument line-shape and
allows highly accurate matching of the isotope pattern of the unknown ion against
theoretically calculated ion candidates. One of the benefits of the approach is
that it requires no known calibration ions, and instead utilizes the ion traps
ability to scan in high resolution mode to resolve the isotope peaks. The
monoisotopic peak of the analyte ion can then be used to correct the measured
isotope pattern for accurate matching to theoretical spectra.

Ming Gu, VP of Research for Cerno Bioscience comments, "We were quite surprised by
the level of performance achievable on the 3D trap design. This work is a good
indication that even better results should be obtainable with more modern linear ion
trap designs." The approach extends the versatility of ion trap instruments by
enabling them to provide formula identification, a capability previously not thought
possible.



Web Site: http://cernobioscience.com

Contact Details: For more information on MassWorks sCLIPS, please email
info@cernobioscience.com, call +1 203-312-1150, or visit www.cernobioscience.com.