Accurate lipid quantification without fragmentation bias

Tutorial


Lipid quantification on the molecular species level is based on the abundance of specific fragments detected in MSn spectra of endogenous lipids and standards. As species-specific internal standards are commonly not feasible, lipids are quantified utilizing only one or few internal standard(s) per class. However, the analytical response of individual lipid species is determined by its lipid class and other structural elements like double bonds, hydroxy groups, and chain length. This tutorial covers developing and applying fragmentation models for sphingolipids and glycerophospholipids, aiming to overcome challenges in accurately quantifying these critical biomolecules. The determined response factors are based on experimental data and are independent of the employed instrumentation, collision energies, and internal standard(s)

Dr. Kai Schuhmann is a Senior Scientist at Lipotype GmbH with an extensive expertise in analytical chemistry, mass spectrometry and lipidomics. He is passionate about tackling complex challenges and transforming them into innovative solutions. One area of interest is the accurate quantification of lipids from MS2 spectra and the application of machine learning to resolve fragmentation-related errors.

Dr. rer. physiol. Marcus Höring obtained his Ph.D. at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine at the University Hospital of Regensburg in the lipidomics workgroup (https://lipidomics-regensburg.de) in 2019. Now he is working as a scientist in the same department. His work comprised the development of a flow injection analysis Fourier-Transform mass spectrometry (FIA-FTMS) method to analyze and quantify lipid species profiles of biological samples in high throughput. Samples of interest include among others body fluids, cells as well as tissue homogenates, mainly of mammalian origin. One of his current projects involves the detailed investigation of preanalytic conditions to understand how to collect and treat samples best for subsequent lipidomics experiments.

Dr. rer. physiol. Marcus Höring obtained his Ph.D. at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine at the University Hospital of Regensburg in the lipidomics workgroup (https://lipidomics-regensburg.de) in 2019. Now he is working as a scientist in the same department. His work comprised the development of a flow injection analysis Fourier-Transform mass spectrometry (FIA-FTMS) method to analyze and quantify lipid species profiles of biological samples in high throughput. Samples of interest include among others body fluids, cells as well as tissue homogenates, mainly of mammalian origin. One of his current projects involves the detailed investigation of preanalytic conditions to understand how to collect and treat samples best for subsequent lipidomics experiments.