Advion and SCIEX Announce a New Version of the World’s Most Advanced Surface Analysis Technology for Mass Spectrometry

Introducing LESA Clarity for SCIEX Mass Spec Systems

Advion BioSystems, Inc. (Advion), the developer and manufacturer of the TriVersa NanoMate^®, the world's first chip-based nanoelectrospray ion source for mass spectrometry, and SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, today announced the launch of the LESA^TM Clarity for SCIEX Mass Spec Systems. The LESA Clarity is part of an ongoing collaboration between Advion, SCIEX and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and offers additional functionality and ease-of-use to the commercially successful Liquid Extraction Surface Analysis (LESA) sample analysis system introduced in March 2010.

LESA Clarity is well suited for researchers developing novel drugs, new forensic tools, better biofuels, improvements in food safety and technologies to strengthen homeland security, among others. LESA Clarity offers new capabilities that increase performance and unrivalled ease-of-use for SCIEX mass spectrometry users. A real-time high definition camera system has been added for viewing the solvent droplet interaction with the surface, simplifying method development while enabling fine control. LESA Clarity also integrates Analyst^®, an SCIEX software platform, and Chipsoft, the TriVersa NanoMate software, allowing researchers to operate the system from a single computer with one sample batch queue.  As a result, all data is stored in a single file.

"LESA Clarity is yet another advancement to the well-established capabilities of the TriVersa NanoMate and LESA technology.  This demonstrates Advion's commitment to scientific excellence, yielding more information and enabling higher throughput," stated David B. Patteson, CEO of Advion. "Advion and SCIEX have had a joint marketing agreement since 2003 as part of Advion's global initiative to introduce the benefits of automated nanoESI through strategic alliances. This collaboration helps both companies continue to bring the latest technologies to our combined customers."

The TriVersa NanoMate with LESA technology operates by positioning a disposable pipette tip above a preselected location on the sample, and delivers a droplet of solvent into contact with the surface of any planar sample, thereby extracting the analytes. The analyte-rich droplet is retracted into the pipette tip and delivered to the back of the 400-nozzle ESI Chip using Advion's nanoESI's long, stable spray times for deeper MS analysis. The sampling locations are built into a batch queue for subsequent automatic analysis. Complementary information to DESI, DART and MALDI is yielded.

LESA was developed at ORNL (V. Kertesz, G. J. Van Berkel, J. Mass. Spectrom., Mar. 2010) to bring the benefits of nanoelectrospray/mass spectrometry (nanoESI/MS) to surface analysis and to automate surface sampling for faster, more effective analysis. LESA provides direct mass spectrometric analysis without the need for sample preparation in a variety of sample formats including tissue and organ samples, Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) plates, MALDI plates, and other planar surfaces with extractable analytes. The direct analysis of surfaces by mass spectrometry is a growing and powerful technique. LESA Clarity is designed for exclusive use with SCIEX's industry-leading mass spectrometers. 

"This technology allows researchers to extract analytes from a variety of samples and infuse them at nanoflow rates to take advantage of the high sensitivity and broad compound coverage that is characteristic of this mode of ionization," said Dr. Tom Covey, a principal research scientist with SCIEX. "Researchers using LESA Clarity for AB SCIEX Mass Spec Systems will now be able to incorporate the most advanced, commercial surface analysis techniques into their laboratories."