Shimadzu/CovalX AXIMA MegaTOF mass spectrometry system

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments has partnered with CovalX to offer the AXIMA MegaTOF mass spectrometer. The integrated MALDI solution is suitable for ultra high-mass applications, including protein complex characterisation, therapeutic protein aggregates, antibody-antigen interactions, polymer analysis and high-mass bioimaging.

The high-sensitivity MegaTOF, which combines a high-performance Shimadzu linear MALDI TOF mass spectrometer with a CovalX high-mass detection system, detects macromolecules up to 1500 kDa. When analysing intact protein complexes by high-mass MALDI TOF, it is crucial to stabilise the complexes with highly efficient cross-linking reagents. The MegaTOF achieves this with the combination of CovalX’s high-mass system offering nM detection of macromolecules up to 1500 kDa and MALDI stabilisation kits, which provide special cross-linking reagents and buffers for a fast and specific stabilisation of protein interactions.

These reagents contain ‘cocktails’ of cross-linkers with different spacer lengths that can covalently bind specific proteins with a high degree of efficiency, even in contaminated and unpurified samples. Additionally, the MegaTOF can detect protein interactions such as aggregation directly from formulation mixtures, which is important for characterising biopharmaceuticals.

MegaTOF is also equipped with a conventional detector for low-mass samples (<20 kDa). In addition, existing Shimadzu AXIMA MALDI systems (Assurance, Confidence, Performance) can be retrofitted with CovalX’s HM2 or HM2 TUVO high-mass system.