New standards for plasma proteomics—Balancing throughput for large sample cohorts and depth of analysis for biomarker discovery

Plasma is a rich source for protein biomarkers that can be used to reveal disease biology, measure responses to therapeutic treatments, or for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. A major advantage of plasma proteomics is the convenience of obtaining samples from routine blood draws and the availability of large cohorts of samples stored awaiting analysis such as in biobanks. However, identifying these biomarkers with bottom-up proteomics has substantial challenges due to the wide range of protein concentrations present in plasma. In this application note, Thermo Fisher Scientific evaluates the performance of the novel Orbitrap Astral mass spectrometer for plasma proteomics using four of the most common plasma sample preparation methods. The Orbitrap Astral mass spectrometer enables twice the proteome coverage compared to the current commercial mass spectrometers for the same gradient. In addition, with double the throughput, it provides higher proteome coverage.