The SAHMRI Mass Spectometry (MS) Imaging Core Facility offers a world class service to visualise small molecules difficult to access with conventional imaging modalities.

The facility was established in 2019 and builds on the extensive experience of A/Prof Snel and Dr Trim in this new field of research. They worked together on the first publication showing MALDI ion mobility MS imaging on a commercial mass spectrometer (Trim et al., Anal. Chem. 2008).

Since then, they have both been active in the field of MS-imaging, with a particular interest in the analysis of small molecules by MALDI mass spectrometry. Small molecule imaging is poorly covered by traditional techniques, making MS-imaging uniquely suitable (see Trim and Snel, Methods, 2016). In biomedical research the questions that can be addressed using this technology are: the spatial distribution of endogenous lipids and metabolites in tissue (e.g., Snel and Fuller, Anal. Chem. 2010 and Stauber et al., JASMS 2010) as well as the tissue distribution of exogenous compounds such as small molecule drugs and their metabolites (Mutuku et al., Sci. reports 2019).

In 2019, the SAHMRI MS-imaging core became the first laboratory in the world to acquire the Bruker timsTOF Flex mass spectrometer as part of the ACRF (Australian Cancer Research Foundation) Centre for Integrated Cancer Systems Biology. Integration of imaging data with metabolomics data is enabled through Metaboscape 5.0 software.

The Imaging core also houses the DESI imaging Waters Xevo G2-XS mass spectrometer. This technique is best suited to larger samples, e.g., whole-body sections.

The facility operates on a fee-for-service basis. For information on costs, please contact the Facility Manager.

Services and Capabilities

• Imaging sample preparation using SunChrom SunCollect MALDI Sprayer or sublimation apparatus
• On-tissue chemical derivatisation of targeted analytes, e.g. neurotransmitters
• MALDI MS and MS/MS imaging using a Bruker timsTOF Flex mass spectrometer
• DESI MS and MS/MS imaging using a Waters Xevo G2-XS QTof
• Data visualisation and statistical image analysis using Bruker SCiLS Lab MVS