Market Profile: Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometry is one of the most versatile and powerful instrument techniques available today. The market for mass spectrometry runs the gamut of applications from pharmaceutical research and discovery labs, to military armament, to semiconductor processing, to environmental testing. The list seems to go on almost without end. New mass spectrometer techniques, including various tandem MS techniques, and applications continue to be developed and are being embraced by the growing fraternity of MS users.Mass spectrometers offer various levels of speed, sensitivity and resolution in their various configurations. Instruments such as RGAs and leak detectors are simple mass spectrometers that identify one or a few basic compounds, while the newest techniques, can fingerprint complex mixtures of proteins at high speeds. Mass spectrometry techniques can be applied to a massive range of chemicals and compounds, whether organic, inorganic or biological. Advancements in computer control software and communications have helped to make mass spectrometry much more effective and easier to use

Survey Demographics: Industry

SDi surveyed over 650 labs mass spectrometry users from around the world. Nearly half of the survey respondents worked in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industries. LC/MS and LC/MS/MS were by far the most popular techniques used among these interviewees, while GC/MS and magnetic sector systems were abundant in environmental testing labs. MALDI-TOF and FT-MS were also frequently mentioned from the overall respondent base.

The foregoing data was extracted and adapted from SDi's Global Assessment Report, 9th Edition. For more information, contact Glenn Cudiamat, VP of Research Services, Strategic Directions International, Inc., 6242 Westchester Parkway, Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90045, (310) 641-4982, fax: (310) 641-8851, e-mail: cudiamat@strategic-directions.com