Informator uniwersytecki

Mass spectrometry (MS) is currently finding applications in various areas of medicine and pharmacy. Combined with liquid chromatography (LC), it is one of the basic, increasingly willing and widely used analytical techniques providing exceptional sensitivity, selectivity, speed, molecular specificity of determinations and comprehensive chemical information. Intensive development is taking place and the demand for MS in clinical laboratories is growing rapidly. MS is used to determine both small molecules such as drugs, steroids, biogenic amines, amino acids, peptides, organic acids, endogenous metabolites from various chemical groups and larger molecules such as proteins and ribosomal RNA. Mass spectrometry coupled with liquid chromatography (LC-MS) provides simultaneous measurement of hundreds of compounds. The past decade has seen a rapid growth in the incremental contribution of mass spectrometry to medical research and clinical diagnostics.

Mass spectrometry has applications in medicine for monitoring therapeutic drug concentrations, in the search for new disease markers of diagnostic and prognostic significance, in metabolomic and proteomic studies, in medical microbiology, anatomic pathology, phenotyping, immunology, endocrinology and toxicology, in the monitoring and detection of drugs and new psychoactive substances, and in cancer research, among others. The routine introduction of MS technology in the oncology field provides a better understanding of diseases in terms of pathophysiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment, as well as the development of new biomarkers, targets for drugs and new therapies. Successful advances in MS technology toward cancer omics research provide a strong rationale for its implementation in biomedicine as a whole.

In pharmacy, mass spectrometry is used, among other things, in the study of new drugs, quality control of pharmaceuticals, during clinical trials, for pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic analysis of drugs, in the evaluation of drug safety and quality, for the study of drug metabolism and resulting metabolites, in toxicological and endocrinological analyses, in pharmacotyping, selection of therapeutic targets.

Mass spectrometry is also used in the control of food composition and quality. Food, its quality and nutrition determine human health. Food is an essential factor in preventive health care, and largely determines our health and quality of life. Effective control of food composition and quality is particularly important in view of the increasing number of food allergies. The identification of bioactive food components and the design of functional foods, is another important research area in which mass spectrometry is used extensively.

Metabolite and protein profiling by mass spectrometry methods offers a revolutionary approach to phenotyping individuals at the molecular level, which is essential for new breakthroughs in precision medicine, drug development and methods for early detection of inherited and chronic diseases. Research and development work conducted for the discovery and validation of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers of human diseases for precision clinical medicine uses both low- and high-resolution mass spectrometers. At the stage of profiling and identification of markers, high-resolution mass spectrometers are used, providing accurate measurement of masses (e.g., Orbitrap, Q/TOF). At the stage of marker validation and quantitative measurement of marker levels, high and ultra-high sensitivity mass spectrometers (e.g., Triple Quadrupole, QQQ) are used.

The Department of Bioanalytics also has specialized software for the analysis and interpretation of MS data, including metabolomics and proteomics (including Mass Hunter, Mass Profiler Professional, Spectrum Mill, Proteinmetrics, Protein Discoverer, Compound Discoverer, SIMCA).

Anyone interested in the use of mass spectrometry in scientific and clinical research is encouraged to contact the head of the Department of Bioanalytics, Professor Emilia Fornal.