New Objective Workshop: PicoChip® Experience

“Working with very small samples, we only get one shot. PicoChip’s robustness is giving us the confidence we need.” – Robert Salzler, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

May 9, 2024 – Littleton, MA (USA) New Objective, Inc., the market leader in innovative solutions for nanoflow and microflow LC-MS, hosted a workshop highlighting the New Objective portfolio of integrated solutions for nanoflow LC-MS featuring the PicoChip® on Thursday May 2nd. Emily Ehrenfeld, Co-Founder and President, New Objective, launched the event welcoming speakers, Gary Valaskovic, New Objective and Robert Salzler, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals along with a panel of users including James Bollinger, Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL), Denis Faubert, Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) and Leslie Harden, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Gary introduced the PicoChip and how through integration, “it democratizes performance” in his presentation titled PicoChip: Engineered with Precision for High Performance to Run Longer. The PicoChip, built on the foundational technology of the PicoTip®, celebrates the early work completed at Cornell with Fred McLafferty, where Gary shared “Fred understood high performance MS and the role it plays in understanding biology.” As the first versions of the SilicaTip™ realized attomole MS detection of proteins, published in Science, the PicoChip brings these capabilities to larger audiences. The suite of integrated technologies the PicoChip encompasses takes control of fluid flow preserving the value of the sample as captured by Gary stating, “Robustness is the key. Above all, we protect the sample.”

Robert, who highlighted the 12 FDA approved therapies Regeneron has in the market and the growth the organization has experienced since Robert started with the organization (400 employees to over 12,000 and growing) shared his experiences using PicoChip in his talk titled, Optimized immunopeptidomes workflow to overcoming challenges of small tissue sample sizes. Robert readily emphasized the robustness of spray as he commented on the “continuous spray experienced using PicoChip, running for more than 30 days” and its improvements over other solutions in the market.

Through his ongoing work analyzing HLA (human leukocyte antigen) peptides, Robert put a spotlight on the growth in MS analysis during his tenure at Regeneron, starting from a “hallway conversation” on how to find peptides using mass spectrometry to his current work, where he is able to “sequence over 10,000 HLA peptides using nanoflow LC-MS in a typical sample.” PicoChip is enabling expanded workflows for Robert and his colleagues, stating “anyone in the lab can run it quickly and with ease – in a morning’s time” as they drive the sensitivity and comprehensive nature of their analyses further. The expansion into analysis of biopsy sized samples brings the understanding, “Working with very small samples, we only get one shot. PicoChip’s robustness is giving us the confidence we need.”

Helena Svobodova, New Objective launched the user forum and panel discussion together with Darshit Shah, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Jim, Denis and Leslie all shared their initial experiences using PicoChip within their organizations and applications ranging from nanoflow LC-MS proteomics for food safety at the USDA, to single cell proteomics and RNA analysis in an academic MS platform at IRCM to biomarker discovery for Alzheimer’s Disease at WUSTL. Jim led the user forum sharing his experiences in how the PicoChip automates column setup and the stability of the spray is directly linked to the quality of the spectra generated, improving downstream workflows of quality control and data analysis. Denis quickly highlighted the “gains in sensitivity and improved chromatography” experienced with PicoChip over established workflow. He went on to emphasize the quick translation of this new format to employees and colleagues in the laboratory, enabling “installation without any help . . . it was very straightforward.” Leslie, drawing connections to the McLafferty lab, built on the accessibility of the PicoChip and its flexibility to enable multiple projects within his laboratory.

“PicoChip is the Standard we’ve been looking for to automate the column process. We’re headed toward the biopsy level.” – James Bollinger, Washington University St. Louis

The PicoChip experiences shared punctuated the advances being made in a wide range of nanoflow LC-MS workflows and applications, in markets ranging from academic and government to biotech. Unified in their experience using PicoChip – robust, reliable and reproducible, democratizing performance – they are making a difference as they focus on the results and as Emily stated, “use MS to fight disease.”

Experience PicoChip and see what you have been missing. Contact sales@newobjective.com for more information.