Location: Westmount 6

Christopher Chouinard, PhD Clemson University I received my PhD from University of Florida in 2016, where I developed ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) methods for steroids and vitamin D metabolites. I then worked as a post-doctoral research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, building Structures for Loss Ion Manipulations (SLIM) ion mobility instrumentation for application in metabolomics and proteomics. In 2018, I began my independent career as an Assistant Professor at Florida Institute of Technology. I have since moved to Clemson University in August 2022. Work in my research group focuses on ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS)-based methods and technology, including structurally selective reactions for improved characterization of steroids and other controlled substances. Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months, reported on Apr 22, 2026) Grant/Research Support MOBILion Systems Discussing Products? YES, presenter will present educational content related to products/services of one or more ineligible company(ies) listed above. All relevant financial relationships have been MITIGATED.

Robin Kemperman, PhD Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Robin Kemperman received his Bachelor's in chemistry from the HAN University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands. Thereafter, he fulfilled his MSc and PhD in analytical chemistry at the University of Florida under the direction of Dr. Richard Yost. Currently, he works at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as Sr. Mass Spectrometrist in the Metabolic and Advanced Diagnostics Lab. Dr. Kemperman's work has covered a variety of aspects in mass spectrometry, including targeted analysis of steroids and ketone bodies using LC-MS/MS, bile acid, opioid, and glycan isomer separations using ion mobility spectrometry, and metabolomics High-Resolution MS. Dr. Kemperman is experienced in clinical MS-based validations and has presented his work at a variety of national and international meetings. Focusing on the future, he is interested in working on novel innovations for biomedical and clinical applications. Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months, reported on Feb 27, 2026) Consultant Fees LGC Group Discussing Products? NO, presenter will NOT present educational content related to products/services of the ineligible company(ies) listed above. Conflict mitigation NOT REQUIRED.

Summary:

Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) is now a ubiquitous technique in biomedical research, with nearly all major MS vendors offering one or more commercially-available IM options. Nevertheless, its transition into the “prime-time” of clinical analysis has been slowed by numerous challenges, not the least of which being difficult/cumbersome data analysis. In this workshop, we will briefly introduce the various IM techniques and their deliverables, ranging from drift/arrival time to mobility (K) and collision cross section (CCS). We will then focus on real datasets (applicable to the clinical lab) and discuss how/where ion mobility can be beneficial. Finally, we will present several “open-source” IM data processing software options and also how these and other tools could be integrated into a clinical lab data processing workflow.

Syllabus

• Basic introduction to different IMS techniques
• Discussion of deliverables from the IMS techniques: how they are measured/validated, what they reveal about chemistry/structure, and how they support separations
• Demonstration of data‑processing tools for IM‑MS datasets

1. Understand the basic operating principles of IMS and the differences between the different techniques (e.g., drift tube, traveling wave, FAIMS/DMS, etc.)
2. Understand the deliverables of the various techniques (drift/arrival time, compensation voltage, mobility, collision cross section, etc.)
3. Understand the basics of an ion mobility data analysis workflow, how it can be applied to different data sets, and the benefits of incorporating IM into existing LC‑MS experiments

Location: Outremont 1

Russell Grant, PhD Labcorp Dr. Grant earned a first-class honors degree in Industrial Chemistry from Cardiff University and a PhD in Chromatographic and Mass Spectrometric technologies from the University of Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. He continued his scientific training in various industrial settings, which have included senior scientist at GSK, Principal scientist at Cohesive Technologies, Technical director at Eli Lilly, and Director of Mass Spectrometry at Esoterix Endocrinology. Dr Grant is currently the Vice President of Research and Development and co-discipline director for Mass spectrometry at Labcorp. Dr Grant has pioneered the use of direct injection technologies, chromatographic systems multiplexing, microsampling, utility of automation, and other new analytical platforms in direct patient care. His research goals are focused upon improvements in speed, sensitivity, and quality of liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) analytical systems and assays. Dr Grant has been awarded 100 patents and received both the MSACL Distinguished contribution award and ASMS AL Yergey “Unsung Hero” Award in 2024 for his contributions to Clinical Diagnostics using Mass Spectrometry. Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months, reported on Apr 23, 2026) Committee/Board/Advisory Board BCal Diagnostics Stock/Bonds Labcorp Salary Labcorp Discussing Products? NO, presenter will NOT present educational content related to products/services of the ineligible company(ies) listed above. Conflict mitigation NOT REQUIRED.

Numerous technologies are now commercially available that facilitate the collection of human blood samples in locations away from the clinical setting. This approach is termed patient centric sampling, or microsampling and can involve the collection of samples from a finger stick, or from elsewhere on the body. The samples can be dried or liquid and are often a smaller volume than those obtained by traditional phlebotomy.

The use of these approaches potentially enables samples to be collected from currently underserved communities (pediatric, elderly, remote areas, etc). Furthermore, the approach may enable more regular sampling of individuals to be performed and facilitates choice for the patient about how and where samples will be collected. These technologies also have the potential to overcome the discomfort, pain and fear that is encountered by many when collecting samples by traditional phlebotomy.

However, there are challenges around the regulatory status of the sampling devices and assays developed for clinical diagnostic purposes using these technologies. Following last year’s initial discussions on this topic, progress has been made. This workshop will take part in a facilitated discussion on what the regulatory challenges have been overcome and new challenges that have emerged. Different regulatory frameworks and quality systems will be discussed relative to EU (Medical Device Regulation + In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation), USA (FDA class 1 & 2 test “systems”) and Canada (Medical Device Directorate, ICH M10). Exemplars will be discussed relative to current products and workflows that have achieved regulatory approval in these jurisdictions. Participant discussion will then focus on how these barriers may be overcome and what future activities might be required to enable this.

Location: Outremont 5

Melissa Budelier, PhD TriCore Reference Laboratories Dr. Budelier is the Section Chief and Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology at TriCore Reference Laboratories and Clinical Assistant Professor of Pathology at the University of New Mexico. She is also the CLIA laboratory director of TriCore's core laboratory. Her research interests are broadly focused on developing clinically useful, mass spectrometry-based assays to improve diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Her expertise are in Toxicology/TDM, assay development and validation, and protein quantification. Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months, reported on Feb 27, 2026) Committee/Board/Advisory Board Roche Diagnostics, Greiner Bio-one, Siemens- Healthineers Royalty / IP / Other Income Washington Univ - Patents (Methods for Detecting Neurofilament Light Chain in Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid; Multiplexed Assay for Amyloidosis Disorders); Tech licensed by WashU to C2N Dx Discussing Products? NO, presenter will NOT present educational content related to products/services of the ineligible company(ies) listed above. Conflict mitigation NOT REQUIRED.

Summary

In 2026 the MSACL Compliance and Accreditation Committee is forming several new Working Groups (WG) to help clinical mass spectrometry laboratories tackle compliance, quality and training challenges. These groups focus on creating practical resources to support accreditation, regulatory compliance, quality management, and workforce development. We’re gathering input from the MSACL community to identify gaps and prioritize projects. Future outcomes from these workgroups may include but are not limited to continuing education sessions; white papers; position statements; publications; templates for quality and compliance procedures, policies, and job aids; quality management software discussions; implementation and accreditation case histories.

The session will include a brief presentation, followed by Q&A and discussion. Topics to be covered include:

• Update and overview of each CAC workgroup
• Current WG membership, expectations for members, and how to get involved
• Projects in progress in 2026
• Projects planned for late 2026 and 2027
• Wish list for programs and materials from attendees – where are the gaps?

Location: Outremont 6

Prof Peter Verhaert, PhD ProteoFormiX Since 2024, Peter VERHAERT is part-time professor at the Department of Imaging and Pathology of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Leuven (Belgium) and honorary professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South-Africa). He is also affiliated to the Laboratory of Applied Mass Spectrometry at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine of the University of Leuven (Belgium). Peter was full professor Analytical Biotechnology and Innovative Peptide Biology at Delft University of Technology [Netherlands; 2005 – 2016] before founding ProteoFormiX (www.proteoformix.com). His Flemish research company was a startup (now alumnus) of JLABS, the J&J Innovation Center on the Campus of Janssen Pharmaceuticals in Beerse [Belgium; 2017]. Peter is recognized worldwide as one of the pioneers in Peptidomics, Peptides in Biology being the common theme in his >35 years of research. Prior to taking up his academic position in Delft, Peter's international career already combined academic and industrial positions: He obtained an MSc in Biology (Zoology Group) and a PhD in Comparative Neurobiology at the University of Leuven, where he held a position as assistant professor [Belgium; 1983-1987]. He then took on a postdoc position at the Laboratory of Toxicology and Biochemistry in the Biology Department of the University of Waterloo [Canada; 1988]. Upon returning to the University of Leuven, he became an associate professor in Histology and Biological Mass Spectrometry [Belgium; 1988-1999]. After an industrial sabbat year at the Flemish Biotech Innogenetics in Ghent [Belgium; 1998-1999], Peter was appointed group leader Proteomics at the Dutch Pharma company Organon (now MSD) in Oss [Netherlands; 2000-2004]. His other professional activities include: • Co-founder and president of the European Pharmaceutical Proteomics Laboratories (EPPL) [2000-2004]; • Proteomics expert at the Flemish Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) [2000-2004]; • Visiting professor Biomedical Proteomics at the Biomedical Research Institute at the Faculty of Medicine of Hasselt University [Belgium; 2004-2014]; • Editor-in-chief of the Elsevier Open Access Journal EuPA Open Proteomics [2013-2016] • Co-director of the Center of Excellence in Biomedical Mass Spectrometry (CEBMMS) at the Faculty of Medicine (Clinical Sciences Department) of Lund University [Sweden; 2016]; • Honorary professor Mass Spectrometry Histochemistry at the Maastricht Multimodal Molecular Imaging Institute (M4i) of Maastricht University [Netherlands; 2017-]. Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months, reported on May 08, 2026) Honorarium/Expenses ProteoFormiX BV Committee/Board/Advisory Board ProteoFormiX BV Stock/Bonds ProteoFormiX BV Ownership Interest ProteoFormiX BV Discussing Products? NO, presenter will NOT present educational content related to products/services of the ineligible company(ies) listed above. Conflict mitigation NOT REQUIRED.

Discussion Topics:

• Brief review of different flavours of mass spectrometry based spatial –omics of FFPE samples
• Principle of direct (‘top-down’) spatial MS analysis with ambient MS (MALDI and DESI)
• Different HR MS analyzers coupled to atmospheric pressure ion sources: from TOFs to FT instruments
• FFPE
  • chemistry of formaldehyde fixation
  • physics of paraffin embedding
  • comparison with cryo
• FFPE sample origin (Homo sapiens), circumvention animal model species, ethical considerations
• Further processing options of FFPE samples for MSI (“MSHC”) tailored to (bio)molecules to be detected
  • proteomics (peptidomics)
  • metabolomics
  • lipidomics
• Dataset examples
  • Data structure from MSI dataset
  • Mass spectra: peak resolution and mass accuracy
  • Profile and centroid mass spectrum
  • Pre-processing : peak picking (untargeted or targeted approach) and peak aligment in MSI
  • Normalization: TIC vs RMS
  • Ion image : heat map color codes and color code scale bar
  • Multivariate analysis: spatial clustering and spatial PCA
  • Region of interest and get mean intensities values for downstream analysis
  • from histological annotations to mean spectrum: use of imaging data for downstream analysis in a clinical context
• More advanced MSHC approaches: tandem MSI, ion mobility MSI,...
• Future (and today’s) developments: Mining rich pathology archives (well-documented FFPE tissue biobank)
• Conclusion: Advantages / Disadvantages; Limits / Potential

Location: Outremont 7

Paul Jannetto, Ph.D., DABCC, FADLM, M.T.(ASCP) Mayo Clinic Paul Jannetto, PhD, DABCC, FADLM, MT(ASCP), is a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and a Consultant at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), where he serves as the Co-Director for the Clinical Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Clinical and Forensic Toxicology Laboratory, and the Metals Laboratory. He also serves as the Vice-Chair of Practice for Laboratory Medicine for the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology. Previously, he earned his BS in Clinical Laboratory Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and worked as a Medical Technologist for Medical Science Laboratories before entering graduate school. He then earned a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is board-certified by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry and American Society for Clinical Pathology. His clinical and scientific interests are centered on Clinical & Forensic Toxicology, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Controlled Substance Monitoring, and Elemental Analysis. Dr. Jannetto is actively involved in the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) where he is presently serving as President. He has held numerous positions at the national level as president-elect, secretary, and a member of the board of directors; a member of the Governance Review Advisory Taskforce; and NACB Board of Directors. Dr. Jannetto is also a member of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology, Society of Forensic Toxicologists, The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists, and was the President of the Midwest Association for Toxicology and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, 19 book chapters, and over 90 abstracts/presentations at various national meetings Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months, reported on Mar 06, 2026) Consultant Fees Roche Diagnostics and Thermo Fisher Scientific Discussing Products? NO, presenter will NOT present educational content related to products/services of the ineligible company(ies) listed above. Conflict mitigation NOT REQUIRED.

Summary

Unlike small drug molecules, the monoclonal antibody therapies often lack a well-defined maximum tolerated dose, have delayed pharmacodynamic responses, and cause the formation of anti-drug antibodies. Despite these challenges, TDM has shown clinical benefits for tyrosine kinases inhibitors suggesting the potential in Oncology. This session will discuss the challenges and considerations of using mass spectrometry to measure concentrations of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) inhibitors (e.g. Pembrolizumab, Nivolumab, etc.), a class of immunotherapy drugs that have revolutionized the treatment of various malignancies, to minimize toxicity and maximize efficacy.