“These strategic appointments reflect our commitment to supporting the global LC-MS community.”
Big things are happening at IonOpticks. We’re excited to welcome Erik Verschuuren as our new Global Head of Sales, and Zac Anderson as Business Development Manager for North America. As our customer base continues to grow, their experience will enhance our sales and support functions and broaden our reach in key markets.
With major product launches coming in 2025 – including advancements in proteomics, bioprocessing, and clinical applications – Erik and Zac will play a instrumental role in expanding collaborations and making our world-leading chromatography more accessible to researchers everywhere.
One of the perks of having a larger, international team is that we can be in more places at once. From South Africa to India, catch up on all the conferences and events IonOpticks attended and supported recently.
IonOpticks returns to the US and reveals new faces at US HUPO 2025
Besides being our first conference in the US since ASMS 2024, US HUPO 2025 was a chance for us to introduce you in person to Jenna, our new Customer Experience Manager. At her first conference, she got to dive right into it and meet customers right in one of our biggest markets. Meanwhile, people recognised Zac and Erik as two familiar faces – though wearing their signature IonOpticks t-shirts for the first time.
Dr. Jarrod Sandow teaches chromatography fundamentals at the Ubuntu Proteomics Summer School
IonOpticks is proud to have sponsored the Third Ubuntu Proteomics Summer School, where emerging researchers learned all about the application of state-of-the-art proteomic technologies.
Jarrod contributed to their comprehensive program with his ‘Chromatography fundamentals’ technology workshop. He couldn’t have asked for a more engaged class, who showed very enthusiastic discussion. With this energy, there’s no doubt that those who attended will soon be pushing the boundaries of proteomics research.
It’s rewarding to be supporting this platform for emerging scientists to connect and learn. Getting to do so right on the beach in stunning Ballito is just the cherry on top.
A heartfelt thank you to Prof. Sanjeeva Srivastava (representing a very appropriate shade of teal) and team for an outstanding program and an inspiring glimpse into the latest innovations in the region.
QMSS and the WEHI Proteomics Symposium round out a growing Australian scene
The Walter & Elizabeth Hall Institute (WEHI) hosted its premiere WEHI Proteomics Symposium on Thursday, February 6. It was great to have renowned Professors and speakers visiting us at home in Melbourne, with our own Dr. TJ Blackburn delivering a great opening sponsor presentation.
Many of those speakers stayed in Australia to present at the Queensland Mass Spectrometry Symposium (QMSS) 2025, at the Griffith University Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, from February 20-21. Aaron, our Senior Research & Development Scientist, soaked in all the latest innovations and insights in mass spectrometry, with great presentations by Professor Albert Heck, Ben Schulz, Kwong Ching Li, and Nicki Packer. With a full house, it’s promising to see the growth of the scene in Australia.
BUILDING A WORLD CLASS TEAM
“By tapping into new talent, the company can continue to develop innovative solutions that address the evolving challenges faced by researchers.”
IonOpticks’ mission has always been simple, develop technologies that push the boundaries of scientific discovery by providing researchers with the very best tools available. Existing talent across many departments have focused on this mission, in turn enabling thousands of researchers globally to unlock the full potential of their mass spectrometry instruments. And according to Dr Jarrod Sandow, Chief Product Officer at IonOpticks, there’s more innovation to come.
IonOpticks’ recent partnership with Nordic Private Equity firm Adelis has been extremely positive, bringing significant benefits to both existing and new customers. While the company has always served a global customer base, collaborating with a Nordic partner has provided greater insights into international markets while expanding the overall perspective.
“These brilliant minds in proteomics, business development, and brand building have invigorated the team and enhanced the company’s capabilities,” Jarrod explains.
Learn more about how our partnership with Adelis has set us up for success in 2025.
Featured researchers
Mike Lanz
Stanford University & Chan Zuckerberg Biohub
Patricia Skowronek
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Samantha Emery-Corbin
Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Platform
Mike Lanz
Stanford University & Chan Zuckerberg Biohub
Dr. Mike Lanz, who completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University before joining Stanford and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, has uncovered something unexpected: cell size is a fundamental determinant of protein composition. Through his work, he’s also come to learn about the value of better integrating biological and technical expertise and the importance of capturing the metadata that is often absent in most ‘omics’ datasets.
Patricia Skowronek
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Patricia Skowronek, a postdoctoral researcher working with Prof. Matthias Mann at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, is actively working to make proteomics methods faster, more precise, and more accessible to researchers across disciplines. Taking an educational approach to her work has paid off, with Patricia having noticed more and more researchers at conferences using the methods she has developed. She’s also driven to translate these technical innovations into clinical applications, ensuring they have a real-world impact.
Samantha Emery-Corbin
Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Platform
Dr Samantha Emery-Corbin, a research fellow at the Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Platform, is in the midst of a clinical trial that could lead to a transformation of how sepsis is treated. Throughout her career, which spans further exciting discoveries about parasites, she’s learned that the effort of getting your research seen doesn’t stop at a well-designed experiment. It’s how you tell the story of the research through writing and data visualisation that hugely influences how it’s received, aiding its clinical impact.
The constant and ever-accelerating discoveries made in proteomics are incredible. So are the people behind those discoveries. That’s why we’re featuring researchers in our new series. In the new year, we’ve featured Dr. Mike Lanz, Dr. Patricia Skowronek, and Dr. Samantha Emery-Corbin, with more coming soon. We’d love to get to know you better, so if you’d like to be a contributing author for an upcoming Community Newsletter, reach out to us via [email protected] and tell us a bit about yourself.
Tech Note: Proteomic analysis from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tumour samples using an Aurora Ultimate column.
We’re pleased to release a new tech note, developed in collaboration with the Bowel Cancer and Biomarker Laboratory of The University of Sydney’s Kolling Institute. Titled ‘Proteomic analysis from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tumour samples using an Aurora Ultimate column’, this tech note assesses the performance of the Aurora Ultimate column using FFPE extracted cancer samples and HeLa cell lysates.
This approach enables precise protein analysis from archived FFPE samples, opening new possibilities for cancer biomarker discovery. The combination of laser microdissection, an IonOpticks Aurora Ultimate column, and a Thermo Scientific Q-Exactive HF-X mass spectrometer delivers robust, reproducible results for studying cancer biology. We thank Prof. Mark Molloy and team for their contributions.
Check out these new application notes from Thermo Fisher & Bruker
Orbitrap Astral mass spectrometer allows comprehensive proteome coverage at the single-cell level
The power and performance of Aurora Series columns with Thermo Scientific’s Orbitrap Astral is demonstrated once again in this new application note, with proteome profiling at the single-cell level, detecting up to 6,500 protein groups per cell.
An impressive dynamic range spans more than five orders of magnitude with exceptional reproducibility (R=0.93–0.98) – the Aurora Elite C18 column with the Astral delivers outstanding sensitivity and accuracy.
Superior Proteome Depth with a Bruker Narrow-window dia-PASEF Method
Bruker’s latest application note highlights the impressive performance of the Aurora Ultimate 25 cm x 75 μm column paired with the timsTOF HT. Using a narrow-window dia-PASEF® method, this application achieved exceptional proteome depth, identifying over 14,000 protein groups and 170,000 peptides in a complex sample. A prime example of how IonOpticks’ Aurora Series columns allow researchers to unlock faster, deeper, and more reliable proteomics results.
Karl Mechtler cites Aurora columns in his new CL-MS manuscript
A new manuscript from Karl Mechtler’s team investigates the optimal crosslinking mass spectrometry (CL-MS) workflow. As it turns out, the Orbitrap Astral + Aurora Ultimate is a powerful combination that opens up a completely new dimension for CL-MS. The research performed multiple comparisons, initially evaluating the Orbitrap Eclipse and Astral using identical liquid chromatography setups and compared their performance across parameters including sensitivity, fragmentation strategies, and gradient optimisation. They demonstrated that the Astral was able to identify over 40% more unique residue pairs.
They also performed a column comparison, pitting the 25 cm IonOpticks Aurora Ultimate against the 50 cm Thermo PepMap. Using the Aurora Ultimate column for CL-MS peptide separation resulted in a 28% increase in crosslink identification, due to sharper peaks, enhanced chromatographic resolution and higher sensitivity.
We’ve introduced you to many new faces as our team doubled in size last year. This year, we plan to do the same, as we expand internationally – and that’s where you come in.
Whether you’re interested in Production, Research, or R&D. Whether you’re in Australia, North America, or Europe. We have several exciting roles open right now, with more added on a regular basis.
That’s not to skip over the most recent additions to #teamIO. Since our last newsletter, in addition to Zac and Erik, we’ve warmly welcomed Dean, Catalina, James, Liang, and Jeffrey onboard. From Business Development, to R&D, to Production – the team continues to grow across all frontiers. We can’t wait to welcome you next.
TeamIO hosts its first showcase of 2025
Tuesday, February 5 marked our first showcase of 2025, and with an ever-growing team, it really is becoming quite the show. First of all, a warm welcome to Dean Whelan, our new Laboratory & QC Manager. Following our tradition, Dean presented about himself, and we have to hand it to him – with the growing team, he had a big audience. And yet, he made quite the impression.
With entirely new roles hired for, we also heard completely new segments this showcase. Eimear gave us her first Quality Management System (QMS) update since joining, with quite a few improvements already visible and further goals set. Mourad’s Production update had a clear takeaway: now that we’ve all settled into our new facility, it’s had precisely the effect we moved in for: we’re able to produce more columns than ever, consistently.
And that prepares us for perhaps our most exciting update, by Xavier, who touched on our international expansion. Keep your eyes peeled, as you’ll be hearing a lot more from us around that soon.
Aurora Series powers the research capabilities of Monash University’s PMP
Congratulations to Monash University‘s Proteomics & Metabolomics Platform (PMP) for the latest milestone in their research capabilities, made possible through their relationship with Seer and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Their integration of Seer’s Proteograph XT workflow with Thermo Fisher’s Orbitrap Astral Mass Spectrometer and Aurora Series columns represents a significant leap forward in proteomics capabilities, with the ability to characterise more than 8,000 proteins across a human plasma study.
We’re proud to provide the essential connection that helps translate the Proteograph XT’s sample preparation advantages into the extraordinary data acquisition capabilities of the Orbitrap Astral. It’s great to be powering innovation in such a prominent facility and look forward to seeing the groundbreaking research that emerges from this platform.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
Our 2025 price list is available now: 
