LC–MS supports work across pharma, environmental testing, food analysis, clinical research, and other areas of analytical science. But even a mature platform can leave questions unresolved. According to Melissa Sherman, CEO of MOBILion Systems, the challenge often starts before ions reach the mass spectrometer. “Mass spec gives scientists tremendous specificity. But if liquid chromatography leaves compounds unresolved, the detector can only work with what reaches it.”
MOBILion’s answer is SLIM, or structures for lossless ion manipulation. The technology adds gas-phase ion mobility separation to mass spectrometry workflows, using printed circuit boards and applied voltages to move and separate ions by characteristics such as size, shape, and charge.
Sherman describes the approach as ‘digitizing separations.’ “Liquid chromatography depends on solvents, plumbing, tubing, and method development. With SLIM, we separate ions in the gas phase using electronics. The same printed circuit board can support different analyte classes, from glycans to lipids, without changing the physical setup.”
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That doesn’t make SLIM a direct replacement for LC in every workflow. Many LC–MS methods remain well established, especially in regulated environments. But Sherman frames ion mobility as an added separation layer for workflows where LC alone cannot resolve enough chemical detail.
What One LC Peak May Hide
The strongest case for SLIM starts with a familiar analytical problem: co-elution. In LC–MS, multiple compounds can emerge from the column at the same time and appear as one peak. That peak may look simple, yet it can hide chemical complexity.
At a recent MOBILion event, Genentech presented examples that sharpened the point. “They showed what happens when you take one LC peak and add SLIM separation,” reveals Sherman. In one example, that single peak became seven. In another, it became nine or 10. That changes how you think about what’s actually in the sample.”
For Sherman, the issue cuts across markets. “Whether you’re looking at a PFAS molecule in an environmental sample, a sugar in a food application, or a drug-related compound in pharma, co-elution can make you think you’re seeing one thing when there may be several. SLIM gives you another way to ask, ‘What am I missing?’”
While not every LC peak hides unresolved components, there is usually value in an added separation layer, especially where closely related molecules, matrix interferences, or structural isomers complicate analysis.
A Platform Rather Than a Single Application
SLIM technology opens a wide field of opportunity and can work across applications, instruments, and mass spec platforms. Early use cases span environmental testing, food analysis, pharmaceutical research, glycan and lipid analysis, metabolomics, and clinical research.
While SLIM isn’t narrowed to one flagship application, pharma and biopharma offer a clear example of both the opportunity and the adoption challenge. Discovery researchers need deeper characterization and faster answers. They also have more freedom to test new tools. That makes upstream research a natural starting point.
However, downstream use will take longer. Regulated environments require validated methods, reproducible performance, documentation, and confidence that data can support submissions and QC testing. “Users can see the value, but they also know they can’t move a new technology straight into GMP workflows,” advises Sherman. “Regulatory submissions based on SLIM data will come with time, but that path takes evidence. Pharma teams do not want to build assays upstream that they cannot translate downstream. If a technology helps identify something early, they need a way to measure it later in development and QC.”
That reality shapes the future of SLIM technology. Sherman describes a roadmap that connects discovery to targeted analysis. High-resolution systems can support broad characterization, while triple quadrupole or quadrupole integrations may better fit downstream assays.
Automation Needs Better Inputs
Sherman also connects SLIM to one of analytical science’s current priorities: automation. Electronically driven separations could support more standardized workflows than LC methods that depend on solvents, gradients, tubing, and site-specific optimization. But faster separation creates a new challenge: more data to interpret. “The bottleneck becomes data processing,” reports Sherman. “Labs can run more samples, but then they need to interpret all that information.” That is where MOBILion sees a role for automated processing and AI-driven interpretation.
Sherman’s argument centers on data quality. “Garbage in, garbage out. If an algorithm trains on one unresolved peak, but that peak actually contains nine features, you limit the quality of the answer. If SLIM separates that peak into sharper, distinct features, the algorithm has better information to work with.”
The same logic applies to library matching. Cleaner spectra may improve match confidence and reduce the time analysts spend reviewing ambiguous features. AI-based interpretation will still require validation, curated datasets, and transparent workflows before labs can rely on it for critical decisions.
From Demonstrations to Routine Use
LC–MS users need more separation power, cleaner data, and faster workflows. SLIM offers one route by adding gas-phase ion mobility to the analytical workflow.
The near-term opportunity may sit in research and discovery, where scientists can test new workflows and use added structural information to understand complex samples. Broader adoption in regulated pharma, clinical testing, and routine QC will require stronger evidence, easier software, validated methods, and clear integration with existing instruments.
“Analytical scientists have always wanted better results, faster workflows, greater confidence, and more automation. Now the push toward AI and automated analysis makes data quality even more important,” remarks Sherman.
For MOBILion, the next stage is making SLIM a routine part of LC-MS workflows. With the technology derisked and value established in multiple workflows, the focus now shifts to seamless integration into next-generation platforms that deliver the benefits of high-resolution ion mobility to both expert and routine users without adding analytical complexity.
Ion mobility is poised to become an integral part of LC-MS, giving users a clearer view of the chemistry already in front of them while remaining largely invisible to the end user.
