Thermo Fisher Scientific at ISC 2026

Connect with us at ISC 2026 in Prague – or watch our presentations online post-event!

Join us live in Prague and discover how we push the boundaries of chromatography or catch up on the presentations via our free series of online webinars (live and on-demand) following the conference.

Featured event: Lunchtime seminar on September 8th 2026

Register for lunchtime seminar

Engage with our experts at our oral and poster presentations, or stop by our booth to discover how we can help solve your analytical challenges.

Lunchtime seminar

ASOs, ADCs, and Other Therapeutics: Advanced Characterization with Novel Reversed-Phase Columns and Integrated LC–MS Platform

• Tuesday, September 8 | 13:00 – 14:00 CEST
• Room details: South Hall 2A

Biotherapeutics are becoming increasingly structurally diverse, placing greater demands on analytical platforms that can support efficient development and regulatory readiness. Reversed-phase chromatography (RPC) remains a widely adopted and adaptable technique, supporting applications that range from oligonucleotide analysis to detailed protein characterization and post-translational modification assessment.

This seminar explores the integration of a macroporous, monodisperse reversed-phase column with a next-generation bioinert LC system for the analysis of two emerging classes of biotherapeutics. Antisense oligonucleotides were examined under optimized chromatographic conditions, using a design-of-experiments strategy to evaluate how ion-pairing reagents influence both LC separation and downstream MS performance. The platform was further applied to antibody–drug conjugates, combining RPC with Orbitrap mass spectrometry to support multi-level characterization. Intact, sub-unit, and bottom-up analyses enabled drug-to-antibody ratio determination alongside detailed PTM profiling — including glycosylation, oxidation, and deamidation — under native and stress conditions. Collectively, these studies demonstrate a streamlined and adaptable workflow for comprehensive biotherapeutic characterization.

Speaker: Sara Carillo, Ph.D.  (Principal Scientist, Senior Manager, National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT), Dublin, Ireland)

Sara Carillo completed her Ph.D. in chemical sciences in 2013 at the University of Naples Federico II, where she focused on the structural characterization of polysaccharides and glycoconjugates from Gram-negative bacteria using NMR and mass spectrometry techniques. In 2015, she joined the CCL group at NIBRT, led by Prof. Jonathan Bones. She began her postdoctoral research investigating the effects of extractables and leachables from single-use bioreactors on both the CHO cell N-glycome and the monoclonal antibodies they produce.

She currently serves as Principal Scientist, Senior Manager at NIBRT, where her work centers on developing new mass spectrometry–based analytical approaches to enable deeper and more accessible understanding of biomanufacturing processes and the structural complexity of biopharmaceuticals.

Speaker: Sukhdev Bangar (Senior Product Marketing Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific)

Sukhdev graduated from De Montfort University (UK) with a BSc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He then worked in the Pharmaceutical industry at GSK & Astra Zeneca performing LC & LC-MS analyses. From 2005 till 2023 Sukhdev worked various roles at Waters Corporation; LC-MS applications, Pharma LC-MS Demo group leader and HPLC Product manager.

In his current role at Thermo Fisher Scientific he is responsible for marketing activities for the Vanquish analytical LC’s product portfolio. In this role, he represents the voice of the customer helping shape the future of Vanquish LC systems.

Oral presentation

Practical aspects and advantages of coupling ion exchange chromatography to mass spectrometry for biotherapeutic analysis

• Ken Cook, Ph.D.
• HYP08 - Separation - MS of large biomolecules
• Wednesday, September 9 | 10:30 – 12:00
• South Hall 2B
• Free webinar broadcast on September 17

Cation exchange chromatography is routinely used as a fingerprint distribution of post-translational modific ations present on monoclonal antibodies (mAb) with the technique termed charge variant analysis. Cation exchange has also been used in the analysis of Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs), a new important class of chemical modification for oligonucleotide therapeutics. Morpholine rings incorporated into the oligonucleotide backbone provide phosphorodiamidate linkages into the single stranded oligonucleotide. This changes the charge on the oligonucleotide from a negative phosphate to a pH inducible positive charge. There are also examples of anion exchange separations being used in fusion proteins that have a heterogeneous sialic acid glycan population. Traditional salt or pH gradient based eluent systems are not suited for direct coupling to mass spectrometry (MS) due to nonvolatility or high ionic strength. This forces the traditional approach of collecting fractions from ion exchange to desalt before introduction to mass spectrometry for the positive identification of each peak. This is time consuming and not amenable to accurate quantitation.  

Here we describe the practical aspects of using pH gradient elution with volatile, low ionic strength buffers directly coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry. PMO, mAb’s and fusion protein data will be shown with the advantages found using this technique. The deployment of pH gradient elution with volatile low strength buffers that do not control the pH well, has practical implications. The selection of the best buffers for different pH ranges to create a controlled linear pH gradient will be discussed, along with the important link to a choice of column that will not buffer against the required pH changes. The chromatography mechanism was observed to move further to isoelectric focussing as commercial pH gradient buffers have high salt concentrations and induce some ion exchange mechanism. There are many advantages to coupling ion exchange directly to MS with low concentration volatile buffers. The technique separates many impurities that do not resolve with HILIC or reversed phase chromatography, including detection and quantitation of oligonucleotide deamination and mAb deamidation at only a 1Dalton mass shift.  The low buffer concentration gives high MS sensitivity, each impurity introduced into the MS separately as they elute from the column, giving extremely clean data for deconvolution. There is also no sample preparation required. It is easy to set up, and direct coupling allows accurate quantitation in a GLP environment. The developed methods represent an exciting advance for the characterization of several types of biopharmaceuticals.

Posters

ISC26-0307: A novel monodisperse supermacroporous reversed-phase platform for comprehensive nucleic acid analysis across a broad size range

• Matas Damonskis-Rokas, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now for a free webinar broadcast on September 23.

ISC26-0122: LC-MS/MS Determination of PFAS in wild Baltic grey seal plasma for the assessment of health and developmental parameters 

• Elina Pasecnaja, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now for a free webinar broadcast on September 16.

ISC26-0348: Polymeric, porous, monodisperse particle development and application to reversed phase separations of biological molecules

• Sukhdev Bangar, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now for a free webinar broadcast on September 15.

ISC26-0350: Comparison of biocompatible and inert UHPLC systems for LC-UV quantitation of large RNA

• Register now for a free webinar broadcast on September 24.

ISC26-0328: Affinity titer analysis to enable scalable mAb and bispecific production

• Robert van Ling, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now for a free webinar broadcast on September 28.

We are broadcasting these posters after ISC 2026 as free webinars. Register now

Webinars

Can’t join us in Prague? Watch our ISC 2026 lineup from anywhere.

Polymeric, porous, monodisperse particle development and application to reversed phase separations of biological molecules

• September 15, 2026 | 10:00 BST | 11:00 CEST
• Shane Bechler, Sr. R&D Manager – Column Engineering, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now

LC-MS/MS determination of PFAS in wild Baltic grey seal plasma for the assessment of health and developmental parameters 

• September 16, 2026 | 10:00 BST | 11:00 CEST
• Elina Pasecnaja, Applications Specialist, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now

Practical aspects and advantages of coupling ion exchange chromatography to mass spectrometry for biotherapeutic analysis (in collaboration with NIBRT)

• September 17, 2026 | 10:00 BST | 11:00 CEST
• Ken Cook Ph.D., Application Support, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now

A novel monodisperse supermacroporous reversed-phase platform for comprehensive nucleic acid analysis across a broad size range

• September 23, 2026 | 10:00 BST | 11:00 CEST
• Matas Damonskis-Rokas, HPLC Consumables R&D Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now

Comparison of biocompatible and inert UHPLC systems for LC-UV quantitation of large RNA

• September 24, 2026 | 10:00 BST | 11:00 CEST
• Sukhdev Bangar, Senior Product Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now

Affinity titer analysis to enable scalable mAb and bispecific production

• September 28, 2026 | 10:00 BST | 11:00 CEST
• Robert van Ling, Technical Sales Specialist Chromatography Columns & Consumables, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now

ASOs, ADCs, and other therapeutics: Advanced characterization with novel reversed-phase columns and integrated LC–MS platform

• October 7, 2026 | 10:00 BST | 11:00 CEST
• Sara Carillo, Principal Scientist, Senior Manager, NIBRT
  Sukhdev Bangar, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Register now

Cannot attend the webinars? Please register anyway to automatically receive the link to the recordings.