Sechenov University: software for tandem mass spectrometer

2024: Software development for tandem mass spectrometer

B First Moscow State Medical University named after I.M. Sechenov Ministry of Health Russia is being developed ON for Russian tandem mass spectrometer, NRNU MEPHI the development of domestic instrumentation for civil purposes for scientific research created within the framework of the federal project. MGMU announced this on September 16, 2024. Without this device, qualitative diagnosis of diseases, quantitative assessment of the content of the most important substances for the body, as well as the development of new drugs are impossible. As of September 2024, mainly foreign tandem mass spectrometers are presented on the Russian market. However, in the near future they will be replaced by domestic devices that will in no way be inferior to foreign counterparts.

Tandem mass spectrometry is one of the most accurate methods for identifying chemicals. The essence of the method is that it allows you to "weigh" single ionized molecules in an electric field. If you accurately measure the mass, then you can identify the molecule by it. The advantages of tandem mass spectrometry are high research speed and accurate quantitative analysis of molecules. In addition, it can be used to simultaneously analyze several hundred compounds in a small amount of biological material. The mass spectrometry method is used in many fields, including the oil and gas industry, nuclear power, metallurgy, and space research. But especially tandem mass spectrometry is in demand in medicine - for the diagnosis of various diseases and conditions, mass screening of newborns for hereditary metabolic diseases, control over non-medical consumption of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Without tandem mass spectrometry, the development of the pharmaceutical industry and the development of new drugs is also impossible.

All ideas in the field of creating a tandem mass spectrometer are Russian, "said Alexander Nosyrev, director of the Institute of Molecular Theranostics of the Scientific and Technological Park of Biomedicine at Sechenov University. - For example, the idea to combine a liquid chromatograph with a mass spectrometer, which was then implemented by Western developers of the device, belongs to Soviet scientists. Therefore, for engineers and programmers, the creation of our domestic tandem mass spectrometer does not pose an insoluble problem. We can all do it ourselves.

The prototype of the domestic tandem mass spectrometer is already ready. Sechenov University is working on software for the device. As of September 2024, three main blocks of the software product are being developed: instrument calibration, spectrum recording, storage and processing of results. Already in September 2024, software tests will begin on a prototype of a tandem mass spectrometer with a domestic high-performance chromatograph. In accordance with the terms of reference for development work, software blocks will be implemented in two operating systems - Astra Linux and Windows.

Tests of a prototype of a tandem mass spectrometer will be held in 2025, then it is planned to release an installation series of instruments. According to the developers, the cost of the domestic device will be significantly lower than foreign analogues. In addition, already in 2024, employees of the Institute of Molecular Theranostics of the First Moscow State Medical University, together with the Sechenov Center for Motherhood and Childhood, will begin working on the creation of special kits for diagnosing diseases and quantifying the most important endogenous substances on domestic mass spectrometers. In the future, these kits will be used in the country's clinical diagnostic laboratories. The Sechenov University will also train specialists in the approved program "Mass spectrometry methods used in medicine and the pharmaceutical industry."