Zhiqin Instruments: A Tsinghua-Originated Pioneer in Compact Mass Spectrometry Targeting the Vast Medical Market
Mass spectrometry offers excellent capabilities for both qualitative and quantitative analysis, and numerous testing standards domestically and internationally are established based on this technique. Miniaturization, specialization, and portability represent a significant trend in the development of mass spectrometry instruments, serving as a new growth point for the mass spectrometry market in the next phase.
Traditional mass spectrometers are characterized by their large footprint, stringent environmental requirements, complex operation, and high cost, which restricts their application to laboratory settings. Guided by design principles of scenario-specific specialization, methodological simplification, instrument integration, and intelligent operation, compact mass spectrometers offer excellent qualitative capabilities, rapid analysis, broad applicability, good mobility, ease of use, low cost, and certain quantitative capabilities. These features give compact mass spectrometers distinct advantages in the field of on-site detection and analysis.
In applications with low quantitative requirements, the "direct mass spectrometry analysis using compact mass spectrometers" approach can be employed for rapid on-site detection, such as in industrial inspection, detection of chemical additives in food, explosives detection, drug testing, environmental monitoring, and emergency response testing.
In scenarios requiring quantitative analysis, the “compact chromatography + compact mass spectrometry” approach can be employed for precise quantification, such as in medical diagnostics and industrial process control. For trace-level detection needs, the “sample pretreatment + compact chromatography + compact mass spectrometry” workflow can be utilized, exemplified by pesticide residue testing in food. Compact mass spectrometers offer flexible operation, high customization, significant cost advantages, and broad applicability. They are poised to disrupt many existing on-site detection methods and directly drive substantial growth in the mass spectrometry market.
“For instance, in scenarios such as pesticide residue testing and detection of illegal additives, compact mass spectrometers can perform on-site analysis of fruits and vegetables directly in the fields. While traditional large-scale mass spectrometers typically require one hour, compact models can deliver results within three minutes. Similarly, for detecting drug use or trafficking, a simple wipe sampling from a suspect or an item followed by direct mass spectrometric analysis can determine drug involvement in under one minute,” stated Dr. Duo Yingxin, General Manager of CHIN INSTRUMENT.
Currently, CHIN INSTRUMENT has mastered all key core technologies for compact ion trap mass spectrometers and quadrupole mass spectrometers, launching the Qilin series of compact mass spectrometers, the Hummingbird series of micro mass spectrometers, and the Phoenix series of compact gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) systems. These products cover a wide range of applications, including industrial testing, medical diagnostics, drug detection, rapid food safety screening, and atmospheric volatile organic compound (VOC) monitoring. Recently, VCBeat conducted an interview with Dr. Duo Yingxin, General Manager of CHIN INSTRUMENT.
Dr. Wang Xiaohao, founder of CHIN INSTRUMENT, is among the earliest experts in China to embark on research into the miniaturization of mass spectrometers.
After graduating from the Department of Precision Instruments at Tsinghua University, Dr. Wang Xiaohao remained on the faculty. In 2005, Dr. Wang joined forces with several scholars to launch research on miniaturized mass spectrometers at Tsinghua University, and in 2009, he spearheaded the establishment of the Mass Spectrometry Research Center at the university. In 2018, leveraging years of accumulated expertise in the core underlying technologies for mass spectrometer miniaturization, he founded CHIN INSTRUMENT, embarking on the path of commercializing scientific research achievements.
In particular, the import market for large-scale mass spectrometers is heavily monopolized, whereas the segment for compact mass spectrometers is dominated by domestic brands. The gap between China and foreign countries in compact mass spectrometry is not significant, as both are still in their early stages of development. It can be said that,The industrialization of compact, specialized mass spectrometers represents an effective pathway for domestic manufacturers to achieve leapfrog development in original scientific instrumentation.
In the development of compact mass spectrometers, CHIN INSTRUMENT focuses on instrument system design and breakthroughs in core technologies, having filed more than 50 patents. The company possesses independent intellectual property rights for core technologies across all mass spectrometer modules, achieving significant innovations. For instance, the vacuum system features a systematic design that optimizes fluid dynamics within the chamber, combined with pulsed sampling and pressure synchronization technology, ensuring the instrument is more compact, stable, and reliable. Regarding the ion source, the company leverages two core technologies—self-aspirating electrospray and vacuum electrospray—to further reduce the instrument’s size while maintaining high performance. The result is a compact instrument with excellent performance.
CHIN INSTRUMENT has launched the Qilin series of compact mass spectrometers, the Hummingbird series of micro mass spectrometers, and the Phoenix series of compact gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) systems, achieving practical applications in industrial inspection, rapid food testing, atmospheric VOC detection, and drug testing. Products targeting the medical sector are currently under development.
The medical field represents the market segment with the greatest potential for mass spectrometers.
Although CHIN INSTRUMENT is a pioneer in the domestic miniaturized mass spectrometry sector, it has not been blindly confident about the application of miniaturized mass spectrometers in the medical field.
“Based on our research, mass spectrometry in the healthcare sector is currently a mature market. Existing applications rely on large-scale mass spectrometers employing liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) technology, which demands extremely high quantitative performance. Compact mass spectrometers lack sufficient precision for quantitative analysis and cannot serve as substitutes. In established applications such as newborn screening and vitamin testing, compact mass spectrometers face inherent technical disadvantages. This has led to”The adoption of compact mass spectrometers in the medical field has been relatively slow, with no mature commercial applications yet.“Dr. Duo Yingxin remarked.”
In the large-scale mass spectrometer segment, nearly ten overseas companies operate in the medical market, with imported brands holding an absolute advantage. Chinese enterprises lag behind their foreign counterparts by at least five years in terms of technological reserves for large-scale mass spectrometers. However, the medical field, particularly in vitro diagnostics (IVD), demands high throughput as well as consistency and timeliness of test reports—requirements that imported large-scale mass spectrometers currently fail to meet. The high cost of imported equipment also limits the broader adoption of mass spectrometry testing across more healthcare institutions.The localization of large-scale mass spectrometers is imminent, presenting an opportunity for domestic enterprises.
In the medical field, large-scale mass spectrometers represent a stock market with well-established application scenarios, whereas small-scale mass spectrometers constitute an incremental market that requires the identification of suitable innovative application scenarios for widespread adoption.Given the unique characteristics of mass spectrometers in their clinical applications, CHIN INSTRUMENT has formulatedLarge-scale mass spectrometers as the primary, small-scale mass spectrometers as the auxiliaryproduct strategy; in other areas, the focus is primarily on small-scale mass spectrometers, supplemented by large-scale mass spectrometers.
Dr. Duo Yingxin revealed, “CHIN INSTRUMENT began its expansion into the medical field in 2021 and has initiated the development of a large-scale triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The prototype has been completed and is currently undergoing productization. Meanwhile, unique application scenarios suitable for compact mass spectrometers have been identified, with sample testing and validation underway.”
In terms of business strategy, CHIN INSTRUMENT focuses on instrument R&D and productization, striving to promote the localization and miniaturization of mass spectrometers. Meanwhile, the company collaborates extensively with reagent manufacturers and testing service providers, aiming to jointly improve the ecosystem for domestically produced mass spectrometers and enhance their competitiveness.
Dr. Duo Yingxin stated that in 2021, the market size of small mass spectrometers in China was around RMB 10 million. Compared to the overall mass spectrometry market worth RMB 18 billion, small mass spectrometers are still in their early stages and have significant growth potential.In the future, compact mass spectrometers will evolve toward lower costs, smaller form factors, and more specialized application scenarios.
Currently, the lack of industry standards, price sensitivity, and the comparative advantages among various technical platforms constitute significant pain points for compact mass spectrometers. Compact mass spectrometers face competition not only from conventional mass spectrometry but also from multiple other technological platforms, including test strips, spectroscopy, and chromatography. To establish compact mass spectrometry as the mainstream method for rapid on-site detection in the food, environmental, and medical sectors, companies must continuously reduce costs, enhance accuracy, and promote the establishment of industry standards.
In the medical field, Dr. Duo Yingxin stated: “It is projected that within five years, compact mass spectrometers will account for one-third of the mass spectrometry market in the healthcare sector, representing a market size of approximately RMB 2–3 billion.”
Moving forward, CHIN INSTRUMENT will center on ion trap technology to continuously expand into niche applications such as industrial inspection, food testing, atmospheric VOC detection, and select medical instrumentation. Meanwhile, leveraging triple quadrupole technology, the company will pursue an in-depth and comprehensive expansion into the healthcare sector.
Specifically, in the medical sector, CHIN INSTRUMENT will accelerate the development of triple quadrupole mass spectrometers to address the existing market, achieving high-throughput, intelligent, domestically produced, and specialized mass spectrometry detection, thereby further accelerating the widespread adoption of large-scale mass spectrometers in healthcare institutions. For the incremental market, the company will expedite the exploration of emerging application scenarios to promote the deployment of compact mass spectrometers in the medical field.