School Program
The 3rd course of the International School on Mass Spectrometry consists of:
a) Tutorial lectures (60-120 mins) aimed at presenting theory, instrumentation and applications of ion mobility mass spectrometry given by an international team of lecturers;
b) Poster sessions. Participants are encouraged to present a poster on their own research activity. Posters will be exhibited during the full period of the school to give the opportunity to those attending the school to go through;
c) Selected flash orals (10 mins each). Selected posters will be presented as flash oral communications to give students the opportunity to present their work;
d) Exercises with the active participation of students in solving them on matters presented in the lectures;
e) Problem solving in which students present to the others and tutors problems encountered in their scientific activity receiving suggestions on how to try to solve them.
f) Social program consisting of:
Welcome party Wednesday, Sept. 9th, 8:00 p.m.
Excursion to Marsala and Selinunte
Guided Tour. Saturday, Sept. 12th, 3:00-8:00 p.m.
Gala Dinner Saturday, Sept. 12th, 8:30 p.m.
Students of the IntSMS 2026 leave their mark! Sunday, Sept. 13th, 9:15 p.m.
| Wednesday September 9th |
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| 12:00÷ 5:00 p.m. |
Shuttle transfer from the airports in Trapani and Palermo to Erice | ||
| 6:00 p.m. | Registration | ||
| 6:30 p.m. | Welcome address. Presentation of the school | Gianluca Giorgi | |
| 7:00 p.m. |
Opening lecture
Mass spectrometry: state of the art and beyond |
Joseph Loo | |
| 8:00 p.m. | Welcome party | ||
| Thursday September 10th |
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Introduction to mass spectrometry and tandem MS of large macromolecules (proteins, glycoproteins, nucleic acids): history and fundamentals
Joseph Loo, Rachel Loo, Andreas Baumeister |
8:30 a.m. | History and introduction to intact MS (ESI and MALDI), native MS, and top-down MS | Joseph Loo |
| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break & poster session | ||
| 11:00 a.m. | Electrospray ionization – sample preparation for protein analysis | Rachel Loo | |
| 11:30 a.m. | Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization – mechanism and sample preparation | Andreas Baumeister | |
| 12:15 p.m. | Shimadzu vendor talk | Andreas Baumeister | |
| 12:45 p.m. | End of session | ||
| 1:00 p.m. | Lunch | ||
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Separation methods, MS instrumentation platforms
Alexander Ivanov, Si Wu, Yury Tsybin |
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| 3:00 p.m. | LC/MS and CE/MS of intact biomolecules | Alexander Ivanov | 3:45 p.m. | Quantitative top-down proteomics | Si Wu |
| 4:30 p.m. | Coffee break & poster session | ||
| 5:30 p.m. | MS analyzers (FT-ICR, Orbitrap, Q-TOF) for intact biomolecules | Yury Tsybin | |
| 7:00 p.m. | End of session | ||
| 8:00 p.m. | Dinner | ||
| Friday September 11th |
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Fragmentation strategies, and data analysis and computational strategies
Luca Fornelli,Ljiljana Paša-Tolić,Yury Tsybin |
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| 8:30 a.m. | Fragmentation strategies (collision-, electron-, photon-, surface-based) for top-down MS | Luca Fornelli | |
| 10:00 a.m. | Coffee break & poster session | ||
| 11:00 a.m. | Software for top-down MS | Ljiljana Paša-Tolić | |
| 12:00 p.m. | Software for spectral deconvolution | Yury Tsybin | |
| 12:45 p.m. | End of session | ||
| 1:00 p.m. | Lunch | ||
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Integrating MS with structural biology, short orals
Vicki Wysocki, Michal Sharon |
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| 3:00 p.m. | Native MS: methods | Vicki Wysocki | |
| 4:00 p.m. | Linking native top-down MS to structural biology | Michal Sharon | |
| 5:00 p.m. | Coffee break & poster session | ||
| 5:45 p.m. | Top-down Single-Cell Proteomics (TD-SCP) | Si Wu | |
| 6:30 p.m. | Stort orals by students (OR1-OR5) | ||
| 7:20 p.m. | End of session | ||
| 7:30 p.m. | Dinner | ||
| 9:30 p.m. | Problem solving … and drinks | ||
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Saturday September 12th |
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Imaging mass spectrometry of large biomolecules
Andreas Baumeister, Ljiljana Pasa-Tolić, Oliver Hale |
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| 8:30 a.m. | Spatial top-down MALDI/MS for surface and tissue imaging | Andreas Baumeister | 9:30 a.m. | Spatial proteoform mapping using top-down MS imaging | Ljiljana Pasa-Tolić |
| 10:15 a.m. | Coffee break & poster session | ||
| 11:00 a.m. | MS imaging of intact proteins with solvent-based techniques: (1) Instrumentation and methods, and (2) Applications and ongoing challenges | Oliver Hale | |
| 12:30 p.m. | End of session | ||
| 1:00 p.m. | Lunch | ||
| Excursion and gala dinner. Have fun!! | |||
| 2:30 p.m. | Excursion to Marsala and Selinunte: guided tour | ||
| 8:30 p.m. | Gala dinner | ||
| 11:00 p.m. | Go back to Erice | ||
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Sunday September 13th |
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Nucleic acids and therapeutic proteins
Dan Fabris, Luca Fornelli |
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| 8:30 a.m. | MS and top-down MS of large nucleic acids | Dan Fabris | |
| 10:00 a.m. | Coffee break & poster session | ||
| 11:00 a.m. | MS, middle-down, and top-down MS of therapeutic antibodies | Luca Fornelli | |
| 12:30 p.m. | End of session | ||
| 1:00 p.m. | Lunch | ||
| Short orals, exercises | |||
| 2:45p.m. | Short orals by students (OR6-OR10) | ||
| 3:50 p.m. | Coffee break & poster session | ||
| 4:30 p.m. | Short orals by students (OR11-OR15) | ||
| 5:20 p.m. | Exercises | ||
| 6:45 p.m. | Award for the best MS solver! | ||
| 7:00 p.m. | End of session | ||
| 7:15 p.m. | Dinner | ||
| 9:00 p.m. | Students of the IntSMS 2026 leave their mark! | ||
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Monday September 14th |
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Applications: machine learning, viruses, neurodegenerative diseases Vicki Wysocki, Michal Sharon, Joseph Loo |
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| 8:30 a.m. | Native top-down and charge detection MS of large complexes and viruses | Vicki Wysocki | |
| 9:15 a.m. | Integration of charge detection with machine learning analysis | Michal Sharon | |
| 10:00 a.m. |
Award for the best short oral! Award for the best poster! |
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| 10:10 a.m. | Coffee break | ||
| 10:40 a.m. | Electrostatic Linear Ion Trap CDMS and application of native MS for amyloid oligomer characterization | Joseph Loo | |
| 11:30 a.m. | Meeting students-tutors | ||
| 12:00 p.m. | Concluding remarks and Arrivederci! | ||
| 1:00 p.m. | Shuttle bus to the airports in Trapani and Palermo | ||
Download the IntSMS 2026 program:
