For the development of new vaccines and drugs against infectious diseases not only the structure of the involved biomolecules has to be understood but also their dynamics. Single particle imaging experiments at Free-Electron Lasers like the European XFEL in Hamburg provide new insights into the dynamics by combining single snapshots from different protein structures into a “molecular movie”. However, the disadvantages of this approach are the wealth of data required, long processing times, high sample consumption as well as high background noise.
The “MS SPIDOC” consortium aims to overcome those challenges by developing a mass spectrometry prototype that will be integrated into a prototype experimental chamber at the European XFEL to provide mass and conformation selected biomolecules. This selection allows to depict distinct transition states with highest possible transmission efficiency.
Beside the Heinrich Pette Institute and the European XFEL GmbH the following partners are members of the “MS SPIDOC” consortium: The University of Greifswald (Germany), the company Fasmatech Science and Technology SA (Greece), the Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University (Institut Lumiére Matiére, France), the company MS Vision (The Netherlands), the Uppsala University (Sweden) and the University of Manchester (Great Britain).
The Heinrich Pette Institute coordinates the “MS SPIDOC” which is funded within the EU’s Horizon 2020 program and will run for three years, starting September 1, 2018.
