Quentin Vanbellingen

Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is an analytical technique that involves virtually dividing a surface into a grid of pixels. Each pixel is then individually analyzed using a focused source. This source ionizes the material constituting the sample surface through a phenomenon called desorption/ionization. The generated ions are accelerated and transmitted to a mass analyzer, enabling the measurement of their mass-to-charge ratio (m/z). This process results a set of mass spectra associated with their X,Y coordinates. By using data processing tools, the m/z of an ion can be selected to reconstruct a density map (see Figure 1).¹ The spatial resolution in MSI depends on the diameter of the probe (focused source). The advantage of MSI is its ability to determine the spatial distribution of various analytes without requiring labeling. This technique has numerous applications, such as metabolomics, lipidomics, pharmacokinetics, etc…^2–6

Bibliography

(1)           Stoeckli, M.; Chaurand, P.; Hallahan, D. E.; Caprioli, R. M. Imaging Mass Spectrometry: A New Technology for the Analysis of Protein Expression in Mammalian Tissues. Nat Med 2001, 7 (4), 493–496. https://doi.org/10.1038/86573.

(2)           Stopka, S. A.; Van Der Reest, J.; Abdelmoula, W. M.; Ruiz, D. F.; Joshi, S.; Ringel, A. E.; Haigis, M. C.; Agar, N. Y. R. Spatially Resolved Characterization of Tissue Metabolic Compartments in Fasted and High-Fat Diet Livers. PLoS ONE 2022, 17 (9), e0261803. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261803.

(3)           Helmer, P. O.; Nordhorn, I. D.; Korf, A.; Behrens, A.; Buchholz, R.; Zubeil, F.; Karst, U.; Hayen, H. Complementing Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Mass Spectrometry Imaging with Chromatography Data for Improved Assignment of Isobaric and Isomeric Phospholipids Utilizing Trapped Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry. Anal. Chem. 2021, 93 (4), 2135–2143. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c03942.

(4)           Spruill, M. L.; Maletic-Savatic, M.; Martin, H.; Li, F.; Liu, X. Spatial Analysis of Drug Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Toxicology Using Mass Spectrometry Imaging. Biochemical Pharmacology 2022, 201, 115080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2022.115080.

(5)           Cobice, D. F.; Goodwin, R. J. A.; Andren, P. E.; Nilsson, A.; Mackay, C. L.; Andrew, R. Future Technology Insight: Mass Spectrometry Imaging as a Tool in Drug Research and Development: MS Imaging for Future Drug Development. Br J Pharmacol 2015, 172 (13), 3266–3283. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.13135.

(6)           Goodwin, R. J. A.; Takats, Z.; Bunch, J. A Critical and Concise Review of Mass Spectrometry Applied to Imaging in Drug Discovery. SLAS Discovery 2020, 25 (9), 963–976. https://doi.org/10.1177/2472555220941843.

Quentin is specialized in mass spectrometry and its applications to molecular imaging, surface analysis, and pharmacokinetics. He earned his Ph.D. at the CNRS Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN) in France, where he developed and characterized a new operating mode for TOF-SIMS using delayed extraction of secondary ions. His work enhanced both mass and spatial resolution for imaging organic compounds on biological and inorganic samples.

Following his Ph.D., he joined Florida International University (USA) as a postdoctoral associate, focusing on single-cell drug uptake and biodistribution using TOF-SIMS.

From 2017 to 2022, he worked at Technologie Servier in France as a team leader in the Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) department. He led preclinical and clinical ADME studies, steering in-vivo and clinical investigations on small molecules and therapeutic oligonucleotides.

In 2023, he joined the CNRS Laboratoire d’Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale (LAMS) in Paris as a research engineer, applying TOF-SIMS to the study of cultural heritage materials and advancing data processing strategies in molecular imaging.

In 2024, he joined the Mass Spectrometry Core Facility at Institut Pasteur. He is thrilled to contribute his skills to meet the analytical and imaging needs of the institute’s research programs.

His expertise includes mass spectrometry, experimental design, data processing, and applying analytical chemistry to biological systems.