timsTOF Pro

Trapped Ion Mobility Spectrometry (TIMS) is first and foremost a separation technique in gas phase, which resolves sample complexity with an added dimension of separation in addition to HPLC and mass spectrometry, increasing peak capacity and confidence in compound characterization. Equally as important, the TIMS device also serves to accumulate and concentrate ions of a given mass and mobility, enabling a unique increase in sensitivity and speed along with the additional dimension of separation.

Achieve near 100% duty cycle for shotgun proteomics
A near 100% duty cycle for high sensitivity, high speed shotgun proteomics can now be achieved with the dual TIMS technology. The novel design allows for ions to be accumulated in the front section, while ions in the rear section are sequentially released depending on their ion mobility. This process is called Parallel Accumulation Serial Fragmentation, or PASEF^®.

The second generation dual TIMS analyzer is optimized for shotgun proteomics needs. Due to its unique geometry ions are released dependent on their mobility from the second section of the TIMS analyzer while the further incoming ions can be accumulated in parallel in the first part of the TIMS analyzer. With the parallel accumulation technology a duty cycle of nearly 100% is achieved resulting in nearly no ion loss.

In the timsTOF Pro an advanced segmented quadrupole mass filter is used for high ion transmission and isolation efficiency. The quadrupole mass position is synchronized with the elution times of the specific ions from the TIMS analyzer. Due to its ultra-high mass position switching time (< 1 ms) it enables the best performance for the PASEF^® method.

The only PASEF^®-enabled mass spectrometer
Bruker has introduced the TIMS (Trapped Ion Mobility Spectrometry) technology in 2016 as a revolutionary ion mobility technology, achieving unprecedented levels of ion mobility resolution in an extremely compact device. The second generation of dual TIMS analyzer now enables PASEF^® (Parallel Accumulation Serial Fragmentation) that is setting new standards of uncompromised speed, sensitivity and resolution for shotgun proteomics.

Superior robustness, no cleaning required
Many MS instruments used for shotgun proteomics require biweekly or monthly cleaning when run 24 hours a day on large sample cohorts, and performance degradation is noticeable over even shorter time periods. The superior robustness of the timsTOF Pro means that the instrument can be run 24/7 over many days or weeks without noticeable loss of sensitivity or other performance metrics.

The timsTOF Pro allows the analysis of hundreds of samples with minimal sample load (<200 ng) at sequencing speeds exceeding 100 Hz. All of this with uncompromised proteomic depth. This has changed the way proteomics is done, but it also unleashes a new constraint - data analysis. Modern researchers must process hundreds of samples of information dense content with the timsTOF Pro. For most pipelines this creates a bottleneck at the data analysis step. Bruker is innovating this step by introducing real-time database search capabilities called Bruker ProteoScape (Parallel database Search Engine in Real-time) which removes the data analysis hurdle. Using Bruker ProteoScape, as soon as a LC-MS run is completed, results are in hand or Run & Done.

MaxQuant/Perseus and PEAKS Studio data processing
An open-file data format allows researchers to work directly with the raw data and use industry leading software. MaxQuant has been adapted to manage 4-dimensional (4D) features in the space spanned by retention time, ion mobility,

mass, and signal intensity which benefit the identification and quantification of peptides, proteins, and posttranslational modifications. PEAKS Studio combines de novo sequencing with traditional database searches and is optimized for processing timsTOF raw data.