The Orbitrap Fusion Lumos (Thermo Scientific) is a Tribrid mass spectrometry system. It combines three mass analyzers (quadrupole, ion trap and high-field Orbitrap) that work together and in parallel which makes the system ideal for the analysis of proteomics and metabolomics samples. The complex analytes (e.g. peptides from tryptic digests, enriched metabolites etc.) are separated by ultra high pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) using the split-free nano-flow Vanquish Neo (Thermo Scientific) and are directly fed to the MS via the Nanospray Flex Ion Source.

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Orbitrap Fusion Lumos (right) with Vanquish Neo (left).
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2026-09-14: We are proud to announce that, after a long and very wearisome struggle, we finally managed to finalize the aquisition of a Thermo Astral Zoom mass spectrometry system. 
Orbitrap Astral (Lego Model)

For now we have to make do with the Lego model of an Orbitrap Astral. 

2026-09-17: Making space. Tomorrow is the day. The Astral Zoom is ante portas. Today we made space for the device:

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ACE Machine Room after "clean-up".​

The free space in the Middle next to the Lumos is where the Astral Zoom will be placed. Making space was not easy ... we had to slightly relocate the Lumos and the attatched Vanquish Neo. The Kingfisher Apex was relocated to the sample preparation room.  

2026-09-18: Delivery. It is 10:30h and a non marked truck drives down from Segerothstraße towards parking lot P3. It turns right into the road leading to the Mensa loading area. Almost there, the truck reverses and drives backwards into the no-parking area close to the entrance T03. Two very competent looking guys step out of the driver’s cab. After some hand shaking and general greetings, they open the back of the truck. Slowly the lifting platform comes down and uncovers the view of the loading area and of its precious cargo. What comes to light is however very ordinary. Some loose cargo, one regular European palette and two big boxes in the back. One of these boxes stretches from left to right of the loading area. The other is slightly shorter in breadth.  Both are almost 1.5m in depth  and 1.7m in hight. First the European palette is unloaded. Turns out it contains the Vanquish Neo unit, the Sonation table for the Vanquish, the Threadripper Workstaion and a couple of small boxes with bits and pieces. The smaller of the two big boxes comes next. It contains the side panels for the Astral Zoom plus lots of smaller boxes containing the FAIMS Pro Duo, spare parts and the dry forepump (more about that later). Finally the last crate is unloaded. Because of its dimensions it could not be rolled into the building. It was unpacked in front of the entrance. First the front lid was removed. The lid is also the ramp on which the Astral Zoom has to slide down to the ground.  Next, all the screws at the bottom of the box sides were removed. Then the remaining box cover was slid back and turned over the Astral Zoom. What was revealed was actually quite unimpressive. “Much ado about nothing” was what came to mind. The Astral Zoom was actually naked. The side and front panels were missing. The Astral Zoom looked a little bit like a man who has pulled down his pants and thrown them away. The mass spectrometer is from its dimensions actually very similar to the Orbitrap Elite plus ETD. However, the back part of the Elite was packed with stuff from ground to top. The back bottom part of the Astral Zoom is actually empty. 15 years of R&D made the back bottom part dispensable. The comparison is not quite accurate. The back part of the Elite contained the Orbitrap. In the Astral Zoom the front is the Orbitrap and the back top part the Astral analyzer.

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Impressions from the delivery

Back to the delivery … The Astral Zoom was fixed to the bottom of the transport box with several big screws. Once the screws were removed the Astral Zoom slid down from the box into the building T03 and further on to its final destination for the day and the next 10 years … to our MS machine room. Next the Vanquish Neo was unpacked and placed on its Sonation table. The 30+ other smaller packages were also placed in the machine room. The Edwards drypump is very heavy and you need at least two people to lift it.  In order for the technician to be able to lift the pump during installation a small crane is delivered with the pump (its in one of the packages).

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The lab after the delivery.
​All in all the unloading and unpacking of the palette and the two boxes took three hours. Around 14:00h the truck left the premisses of the University. The gap in the MS machine room that we generated for the Astral Zoom is now filled by the very same, plus all the packages. More about the contend of these and the installation in a couple of days.

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Stay tuned for more information about installation.

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The Exactive Plus EMR mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific) is a further development of the Exactive mass spectrometer and features a classic Orbitrap. With its extended mass range of m/z 20000, this machine can reliably determine the mass of complexes up to 2 MDa (2×10⁶ Da). Protein samples in their native state are supplied to the mass spectrometer either via direct infusion (borosilicate emitters with conductive coating hooked up to the Nano ES ion source head of the Nanospray Flex ion source) or using the Advion Traiversa nanoMate.

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Exactive PLUS EMR connected to the Advion Triversa Nanomate (dark blue).
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The Evosep One is our latest LC acquisition and is primarily used for the analysis of low complexity or clinical samples. The Evosep One is in many ways different from classical LC’s. While in classical LC’s the sample has to be first loaded on a trap column or directly onto the analytical column sample loading in the case of the Evosep One is done off-line onto Evotips (disposable trap columns). The analytes are then automatically washed off the Evotip and into the Evosep One. Here the samples are diluted resulting in a pre-formed gradient. The whole gradient with the analytes is then transferred into a sample loop and sent over the analytical column using one high pressure pump. The pre formed gradients cannot be modified and require special columns (this is the biggest disadvantage of the Evosep One). However, the standardized platform allows the high throughput analysis of 15 - 300 samples per day (depending on the gradient and column used). The combination of high throughput (up to 300 SPD) with disposable trap columns (massive reduction of carry over) makes the Evosep One very attractive for the analysis of clinical samples and marker identification.

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"Evosep One: Gradient off-set focusing UHPLC instrument for robust and high throughput proteomics”.
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The analytics core facility is furnished with a variety of different state-of-the-art electrophoresis machines. We are able to run 1D samples in mini (8x10 cm), midi (13x22-28cm) and also in a high-throughput manner on maxi gels (40 x 16 cm). We are also well equipped to perform all kinds of 2D experiments (Ettan IPGphor 3 for isoelectric focusing; Ettan Dalt6 for parallel electrophoresis of up to 6 20x20 gels).

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Gel chambers (from left to right mini, midi, maxi).

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Ettan Dalt6

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IPGphor3​
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