Waters Corp., Prosolia Inc. and the Purdue Research Foundation have announced that Waters has acquired exclusive rights to desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) technology for all mass spectrometry applications from Prosolia and PRF.
“The acquisition of DESI technology bolsters Waters' portfolio of mass spectrometry imaging innovations, a rapidly expanding MS technique for biomedical research and related applications”, said Chris O’Connell, chairman and chief executive officer of Waters Corp. “DESI mass spectrometry imaging provides complementary and actionable data when compared to classical histopathology imaging technologies with major advantages in analysing the molecular fingerprint within a sample, thus delivering deeper biological insights. Ultimately, these insights will lead to better understanding of disease and enable the development of new, more effective medical therapies.”
DESI imaging technology uses a charged jet of solvent depositing micro-droplets onto a sample’s surface where analytes are desorbed into a gas phase at ambient pressure and temperature. Subsequently, they are drawn in and analysed by mass spectrometry.
In connection with Waters’ acquisition of DESI intellectual property from Prosolia and licensing from PRF, Waters and Purdue University, where DESI was invented by a team led by R. Graham Cooks have also established a relationship under the terms of a new license agreement. Accordingly, Waters will provide Purdue University with a Synapt G2-Si time-of-flight mass spectrometer to continue to advance research applications of DESI technology.
“Today’s announcement is an important milestone in the continued growth of DESI to the benefit of scientists around the globe. We congratulate Justin and the Prosolia team for their accomplishments and look forward to collaborating with Waters as it takes DESI into the future”, Cooks said.
Waters will continue to support its customers who already use DESI with Xevo and Synapt time-of-flight mass spectrometers. As the technology transitions from Prosolia to Waters, Prosolia also will continue to supply DESI technology for certain non-Waters mass spectrometer configurations until 30 September 2019. Prosolia will be responsible for and will continue to honour its warranty commitments made prior to Waters’ acquisition of the DESI technology to those scientists and organisations who currently have a DESI source unit on any non-Waters mass spectrometer.
