Orbitrap Astral Mass Spectrometer

Looking to unlock additional insights into biology and disease mechanisms? With faster throughput, deeper coverage, higher sensitivity, and accurate and precise quantitation; the Thermo Scientific Orbitrap Astral Mass Spectrometer enables you to dramatically expand the scale and scope of your experiments.

See how it sets a new standard for mass spectrometry performance and redefines what is possible for discovery and translational research to help you rapidly and comprehensively capture the dynamic, temporal, and spatial complexity of biology.

An overview of the Orbitrap Astral MS from Alexander Makarov, Ph.D.

The new Astral analyzer builds on Thermo Fisher Scientific’s proven Orbitrap mass spectrometry platform with novel technology to deliver up to two times deeper proteome coverage and up to four times more throughput compared to current mass spectrometers.

Alexander Makarov, Ph.D., Director Global Research LSMS, Thermo Fisher Scientific, claims the Astral analyzer represents a new class of high-resolution accurate-mass analyzers with a unique performance envelope.

"The introduction of the Astral analyzer represents a starting point in the future evolution of its technology to new frontiers of performance," said Makarov.

A New Standard for Data-Independent Acquisition

The future of proteomics lies in the accurate and precise measurement of thousands of proteins across thousands of samples. Data-independent Acquisition (DIA) facilitates deep proteome coverage with high quantitative accuracy and precision using label-free quantitation (LFQ) due to the unbiased and reproducible nature of mass spectrometry measurements. The Orbitrap Astral mass spectrometer produces unprecedented data quality for DIA methods with faster throughput, deeper coverage, and higher dynamic range for accurate and precise quantitation. Learn how the Orbitrap Astral mass spectrometer will enable precision medicine at scale with revolutionary new DIA methods for plasma proteomics.

 Watch now ›

The Era of Single-Cell Proteomics Has Arrived

Single cell proteomics can determine the dynamic nature of the proteome across cell types in both time and space. The increased resolution that is gained by measuring single cells instead of bulk samples provides a deeper insight into disease mechanisms and fundamental biological processes to unravel the complexity of biology. Learn how the Orbitrap Astral mass spectrometer opens a new horizon for single-cell proteomics by empowering higher throughput and deeper coverage without sacrificing quantitative accuracy and precision.

 Watch now ›

• Mike MacCoss, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington
• Jennifer Van Eyk, Ph.D., Director, Basic Science Research, Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center Director, Advanced Clinical Biosystem Institute Center, Cedars-Sinai
• Jesper Olsen, Ph.D., Deputy Center Director, Professor, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen
• Qing Yu, Research Associate at Harvard Medical School

• Erwin Schoof, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Section for Protein Science and Biotherapeutics, Cell Diversity Lab, Technical University of Denmark
• Joshua Coon, Ph.D., Professor of Biomolecular Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Nikolai Slavov, Ph.D., Founding Director of Parallel Squared Technology Institute and Professor at Northeastern University
• Sophia Steigerwald, Ph.D., Student at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry

The Orbitrap Astral Mass Spectrometer combines three mass analyzers: a quadrupole mass analyzer for high selectivity and high ion transmission; an Orbitrap mass analyzer for high dynamic range and high-resolution measurements; and a novel Astral analyzer for fast and sensitive measurements. The front end, from the ion source up to the segmented quadrupole mass filter, is designed to maximize instrument sensitivity and robustness. Ions are trapped and concentrated in the ion routing multipole, which facilitates the transfer of ions to either of the high-resolution accurate-mass (HRAM) analyzers. Synchronization of ion transfer and processing throughout the instrument enables the parallel handling of five separate ion packets simultaneously. This synchronization enables each mass analyzer to be used in combination to optimize performance and experimental flexibility.

The Orbitrap analyzer is ideally suited for the acquisition of high dynamic range HRAM MS and MS² spectra, including an optional Biopharma mode to extend the mass range up to m/z 8,000. The Astral Mass Analyzer delivers high acquisition rates up to 200 Hz, single ion detection sensitivity, and high dynamic range HRAM SIM and MS² measurements that are fully synchronized with parallel Orbitrap analyzer operation. Due to this synchronization the Orbitrap Astral Mass Spectrometer excels at many data acquisition strategies including High Resolution Data-Independent Acquisition (HR-DIA) and data-dependent acquisition (DDA). These acquisition strategies combined with the high resolution and dynamic range of the Orbitrap and Astral analyzers enable accurate and precise quantitation using either Label-Free Quantitation (LFQ) or multiplexing with Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)-labeled peptides.