Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Time2Life (Advanced signal processing of time-domain data in mass spectrometry to leverage life sciences)
Reporting period: 2015-09-01 to 2016-08-31
The Time2Life PoC action relates to the actively researched and pursued all over the world field of improving the health of the growing and aging planet population, the major challenges faced by humanity in the XXI century. To reach these goals, the Time2Life action brought forward the most recent innovations in the field of biological mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry is an analytical technology that is nowadays present and indispensable in many aspects of our life – in hospitals, pharma and biotech, food and nutrition industry, both in academic and for-profit research centers. Improving performance of mass spectrometry is particularly beneficial for these areas. Time2Life addressed the specific challenges in life sciences by bringing innovations in the analytical sciences (mass spectrometry) from the laboratory level to the worldwide acceptance and use. Economically, with our technology customers are now able to achieve mass spectrometry performance levels that previously were attainable only with the purchase of highly expensive specialized instruments, and for some applications not even with those. In an exemplary case of Orbitrap FTMS instruments from Thermo Scientific (Germany) the costs of the latest instrument generations are not readily affordable for many institutes and organizations, even those in industry. With a total number of Orbitrap FTMS platforms in the world of around 10’000 instruments and growing, the incentive to upgrade the performance of their instruments by advanced signal processing can be substantial and is highly anticipated. Societally, the envisioned scientific achievements in the health applications in the long run should translate into improved drug and molecular biomarker discovery, early diagnosis and prognosis for preventive and personalized medicine.