As Vice President of Product Management, Jose Castro-Perez is responsible for the overall ownership of the global SCIEX product portfolio for capillary electrophoresis, liquid chromatography-MS, software ecosystems and accessories.
Credit: SCIEX
At this year’s 74th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics in San Diego, much of the conversation centered on a shared reality for analytical and omics laboratories. Workloads are increasing, workflows are becoming more complex, and expectations around speed, confidence, and efficiency continue to rise. Acknowledging this challenging environment, vendors used the meeting to signal how they are adapting long-standing platforms to meet the practical constraints shaping modern lab operations.
SCIEX, a Danaher company, arrived at ASMS 2026 with updates spanning both quantitative and accurate-mass workflows. These included the launch of the novus V55 triple quadrupole system for routine and regulated laboratories, alongside platform-wide advancements across its ZenoTOF accurate-mass line aimed at supporting scalable proteomics and metabolomics research. From space and energy considerations to data scalability and fleet-level visibility, the changes point to a broader shift in how mass spectrometry (MS) systems are being designed and evaluated.
DDN spoke with Jose Castro-Perez, Vice President of Product Management at SCIEX, about how these pressures are influencing platform development, what labs are prioritizing as they move from discovery to translation, and how software, automation, and system efficiency are reshaping expectations for MS workflows.
Why were these platform-wide updates needed now, and what shifts are you seeing in omics research that drove their development?
Customers across the omics disciplines consistently tell us the same thing — the boundaries between proteomics, metabolomics, identification, and quantitation are increasingly overlapping. Researchers start in one area, but naturally expand — from discovery to confirmation, from profiling to quantitation, from single experiments to large, time-constrained cohorts. Across the omics field, there are hundreds of use cases.
And that is exactly how we think about the ZenoTOF platform: as a dynamic, adaptable, and continuously evolving system designed to support researchers wherever their science takes them.
What are the biggest bottlenecks researchers face today when moving from discovery to more targeted or translational workflows?
Researchers today are not limited by discovery; rather, the bottleneck lies in translating those findings into robust, reproducible, and assay-ready workflows. The key challenge is maintaining confidence from discovery through to quantitation — ensuring signals remain selective, reproducible across cohorts, and scalable into targeted or translational workflows without sacrificing data quality or biological insight.
Routine quantitative labs are under pressure to deliver more results in less time. What are the most common operational pain points you hear from triple quadrupole users today?
We consistently hear the need to deliver more results in less time — both in terms of data acquisition speed and data processing efficiency.
To boost data acquisition, we have developed aeMRM, or accelerated multiple reaction monitoring. It accelerates sample throughput by enabling methods to be combined or run times to be shortened. This approach has been shown to support acquisition rates of up to 1,000 MRMs per second.
For data processing, SCIEX OS 5.0 utilizes automation with customizable, rule-based logic across acquisition, data processing, and report creation, helping to expedite decision making. AI-enabled features such as Calculated Columns incorporate a natural language interface directly into the software, allowing users to work more intuitively and efficiently.
How are expanding assay panels and method complexity reshaping expectations for triple quadrupole workflows?
Expanding assay panels and increasing method complexity are placing greater demands on both data acquisition and data processing workflows. As assay panels grow, researchers are often forced to split assays across multiple panels — requiring two or three injections per sample. As methods become more complex, run times may need to be extended to maintain performance.
It all comes back to speed.
Space and energy constraints are becoming more visible in lab planning. How are these factors influencing instrument selection today?
Customers increasingly show us labs that are already packed with instruments, yet under pressure to run more samples. Adding more systems doesn’t just consume space — it also increases energy demand. In an era shaped by AI-driven compute loads and ongoing energy volatility, energy utilization has become a major consideration in lab planning.
As a result, customers are focused on efficiency. They want a smaller footprint and better energy utilization without compromising performance.
The novus V55 system is the most compact triple quadrupole in its class, with a 35 percent smaller footprint compared to the SCIEX 5500+ system. It also helps reduce operational energy costs, supporting greater lab efficiency and profitability. When configured with a dry pump, the system delivers up to 40 percent savings in both energy consumption and laboratory cooling requirements compared to the SCIEX 5500+ system with a wet pump.
As labs operate across multiple instruments, what challenges emerge around performance visibility, troubleshooting, and data confidence?
What we increasingly hear from customers is: “Help me not just analyze data, but make decisions with it.” As labs scale across multiple instruments, gaining clear visibility into performance, rapidly troubleshooting issues, and maintaining confidence in the data become more complex. We work closely with customers to develop features that simplify the user experience and enable faster, more confident analysis of complex MS data — tailored to the unique needs of each lab.
At ASMS, we launched SCIEX OS 5.0, now available across our portfolio. SCIEX OS is the software engine that drives SCIEX mass spectrometry, and new features such as Central Metrics Tracker and Central Monitoring provide centralized, fleet-level monitoring capabilities. For labs operating at scale, understanding the real-time status, performance, and output of every instrument is critical to maintaining efficiency and confidence in results.
What should labs prioritize if they want systems that will remain viable as regulations, assays, and workloads change?
Customer needs are changing rapidly, and labs require systems that can adapt just as quickly. That means flexibility across front-end compatibility, ongoing technology innovation, and a robust, future-ready software environment. Equally important is responsive service and support, ensuring labs can keep pace as requirements shift.
Our commitment is straightforward: continuous innovation across the platform, delivering long-term value and confidence for customers across workflows.
