2025 Fall Meeting @House of Connections, Groningen

On 19 November 2025 we held our NVMS Fall Meeting at the House of Connections in the heart of Groningen. We kicked off the morning with coffee during registration, setting the tone for an engaging day!

First up, Karin Wolters from UMC Groningen shared insights into pathogenic mechanisms and biomarkers for prognosis and monitoring of Glycogen Storage Disease Type. Next, Berdien van Olst (TU Delft) presented on uncovering the structural proteome in granular biofilms through metaproteomics. Christel Kuik (Maastricht University) followed with work on structural identification of quorum-sensing metabolites in Pseudomonas aeruginosa using tandem MS and ion mobility in MALDI-MSI.

During our first coffee break there was plenty of time to socialize, connect with colleagues, continue the scientific discussions, and enjoy the first set of posters, before Joost Snijder (Utrecht University) updated us on recent advances in antibody sequencing by bottom-up proteomics.

Then the spotlight moved to a vital discussion: a panel on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Dutch mass spectrometry community, organized by our young NVMS board together with Females in Mass Spectrometry (FeMS).Alongside reflecting on the recent survey we carried out within the Dutch mass spectrometry community, Angie Mc Ardle joined us from FeMS to share her experience and perspectives, bringing her international experience to the conversation. Her contribution helped highlight why DEI matters for building an inclusive and supportive environment, especially for our early career mass spec researchers.

We then had a wonderful lunch together, another poster sessions and plenty of time to connect and chat in the excellent venue space.

After lunch Redouan Anaia (University of Groningen) spoke about glycosylation of monoterpenols in grapevine leaves under oregano essential oil vapour pretreatment and how it alleviates downy mildew susceptibility. Then Fabiana Di Gianvincenzo (University of Amsterdam) described how she used SPME-GC-MS and Py-GC-MS to assess the condition of wax-resin lining of canvas paintings.

Kas Houthuijs (VU Amsterdam), our travel award winner, addressed matrix effects in microplastic quantification with pyrolysis-GC-cIMS-HRMS. After another break with poster session odd-numbered, Elena Giaretta (Utrecht University) demonstrated how high-field Orbitrap-based CDMS improves signal-to-noise for the analysis of individual singly-charged ions.

Andrea Istrati (VU Amsterdam) spoke about workflow optimisation for native mass spectrometry of amyloid-β. Sylvia Roovers-Genet (Eindhoven University of Technology) shared her work on overcoming challenges in protein tumour marker quantification and moving toward harmonisation with LC-MS/MS. Finally, Jeroen Kooistra (Byondis) closed the scientific programme with his presentation on differentiation of masked and demasked antibody fractions via N-terminal dimethylation and LC-MS.

We wrapped the day by announcing the poster awards: Lapo Renai from the University of Amsterdam was awarded for his work on understanding PFAS exposure through wide suspect screening and the reanalysis of high-resolution mass spectrometry data from exposomics studies. Our second prize went to Yasmin van der Velden from the Leiden University Medical Center, who presented impressive work on the structural characterization of intact polysaccharides using MALDI in-source decay FTICR mass spectrometry. Her study demonstrated how high-resolution MS can reveal detailed structural features of these challenging biomolecules. Both posters stood out for their clarity, scientific depth and excellent presentation, well done!!

Finally, we moved into drinks to close our science day on a high note. The House of Connections really was the perfect place not only for presentations but also for connecting during breaks.