# A New Superconducting Detector Technology for Mass Spectrometry of Large Biomolecules

> **NIH NIH R43** · STEAM INSTRUMENTS, INC. · 2020 · $221,263

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The long-term goal of our efforts is to enable identification and mapping of every molecule in a cell. Such information
is sought in many life-science disciplines including molecular biology, pathology, proteomics and for the pharmaceutical
industry. It is critical information needed to underpin fundamental advances in our understanding of life processes.
However, this vision will require development of a technology for efficient detection of molecules, that does not yet
exist. Detectors for biomolecules are the foundation of analytical instruments such as mass spectrometers. We have
developed and experimentally proven new concepts that will allow us to build and commercialize a detector
technology enabling this grand vision. The technology is based on a new patented approach to using superconducting
materials which can record 100% of the impinging molecules, even the heaviest proteins and protein complexes.
Methods are now available to launch biomolecules of any mass from tissue and water solutions as ions into mass
spectrometers with high efficiency and no fragmentation or denaturing. Such soft laser-ionization methods as MALDI
(matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization) and DIVE (desorption by impulsive vibrational excitation) open new
opportunities for molecular analysis and mapping. We have designs for mass spectrometers that can deliver these ions
onto a detector with very high mass resolving power (>200,000). However, the detector is currently the missing link in
this exciting development. With the new detector technology, a whole new class of imaging mass spectrometers can
be developed and brought to market.
Our superconducting detector technology (a superconducting delay line or SCDL, pronounced skiddle) delivers 100%
detection while capturing the high mass resolving power on unfragmented large-mass molecules like proteins. It is fast
(>108 molecules/second) and expandable to large areas (>4 cm2). A proof-of-concept project was completed in the past
year. We are commercializing this technology for biomolecule time-of-flight detection as part of our grand vision to
spectroscopically map all molecules in a cell. We have built a team of academic and commercial experts in biological
mass spectrometry (MS) and superconducting detectors and electronics. We will develop a highly parallel tessellated
detector with integrated superconducting electronics on the detector wafer. The first step in commercialization, this
Phase I program, is thorough simulation of the detector and its electronics in collaboration with SeeQC, Inc. (formerly
Hypres, Inc.). When complete, we will have a high level of confidence in its expected performance. In our Phase II, we
will fabricate a working detector with SeeQC and evaluate its performance in a test MS system on real biomolecular
specimens. Commercializing the SCDL detector for high performance time-of-flight mass spectrometry is the first stage
of our plans for this detector technolog...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9907501
- **Project number:** 1R43GM135959-01
- **Recipient organization:** STEAM INSTRUMENTS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Thomas Fred Kelly
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $221,263
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-02-15 → 2021-02-14

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9907501

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9907501, A New Superconducting Detector Technology for Mass Spectrometry of Large Biomolecules (1R43GM135959-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9907501. Licensed CC0.

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