An adaptive compute solution for characterizing macromolecular complexes by mass spectrometry with electron-based fragmentation

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Despite two decades of advances in the speed, resolution and mass accuracy of modern mass spectrometers, the characterization and quantification of biological macromolecules remains a daunting challenge. The remaining weakness with current instrumentation lies in the methods used to fragment macromolecules, which e-MSion is addressing with an efficient electron-fragmentation technology called ExD. The exceptional sequence coverage of native proteins and preservation of labile post-translational modifications achieved with our technology is capturing the interest of the biopharma and top-down communities. Our ExD cell is the only electron-based method that can keep pace with ion mobility separations. The combination of ExD with IMS opens many opportunities to better probe protein structure and work with protein complexes. We now have strong comarketing arrangements with Agilent, Thermo and Waters for their high-end instruments and have been granted deep access to their electronics and internal data processing. Our phase I efforts focused on creating a software application called ExD Viewer that addressed user concerns about processing electron fragmentation spectra produced by our ExD technology. This software helps users to address unmet needs for probing cystine knot proteins, validating antibody sequences and characterizing proteoform more completely. One particularly well-received capability provided by ExD Viewer allows annotation of top-down spectra live from the instrument, which users use to optimize methods. We were unable to address the second of our feasibility questions because the pandemic held up delivery of our engineering sample of the Versal Adaptive Compute Acceleration Platform (ACAP) by a year. However, the Versal ACAP has become commercially available last summer. Versal is a major hardware advance that allows massive streams of real-time data to be processed at least 100-fold faster than with current CPU/GPU processors and with the potential to transform how proteomics is conducted. Our current ExD Viewer uses efficient modern programming frameworks to process complex spectra in minutes. For Phase II, we will port the backend core engine to run efficiently on the powerful Versal ACAP enabled- workstation. Accomplishing this objective will allow entire frames of ion mobility spectra (IMS-MS) to be continuously analyzed. The Versal ACAP will allow adaptive control the ExD cell and mass spectrometer to dynamically adjust data collection to more fully characterize macromolecules on the fly and to apply a broader range of tools. The commercial value comes from reducing both sample analysis time and the need for expert user input. Our primary outcome for phase II is to develop user-facing workflows that optimize the activation, fragmentation and dissociation of native proteins on the fly, enabling faster and more comprehensive characterization of challenging proteoforms important to biomedical researchers and the biopharmaceutical industry.