The “Major Scientific Research Instrument Development” programme continues to be scaled up, with the local production of high-end mass spectrometry imagers entering the fast lane

Recent trends in project approvals under the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s ‘Development of Major Scientific Research Instruments’ programme indicate that high-end mass spectrometry instruments are becoming a key focus of the national strategy for the self-reliance of scientific research instruments. Industry observers have noted that between 2023 and 2025, there has been a marked increase in the number of approved instrument development projects involving mass spectrometry imaging, time-of-flight mass spectrometry and photoionisation sources, whilst funding support has also been rising year on year. This policy signal is being transmitted to the industry—several domestic mass spectrometry instrument manufacturers have accelerated the pace of independent R&D for core components, and the localisation process across the entire mass spectrometry imaging instrument supply chain is gathering momentum.

The Underlying Logic Behind the Policy

The localisation of high-end scientific instruments is by no means a new topic. Both the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have listed analytical instruments as key areas for breakthroughs in multiple Five-Year Plans. However, the reason why policy attention to the mass spectrometry imaging segment has risen significantly in recent years is closely linked to cutting-edge demands in life sciences and precision medicine research.

Mass spectrometry imaging technology can directly obtain information on the spatial distribution of molecules within tissues without the need for labelling or extraction, demonstrating unique value in areas such as tumour boundary identification, drug distribution tracking and metabolic pathway analysis. Pathology departments at several Grade A tertiary hospitals in China, as well as drug metabolism research departments at pharmaceutical companies, have begun to introduce mass spectrometry imaging systems as research tools. However, this market has long been dominated by imported brands, with the procurement cost of a complete system often running into several million yuan; furthermore, there is a high degree of reliance on imported core components, such as imaging ion sources, which has limited the pace of technology adoption.

Specialised support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China has provided seed funding for the development of domestically produced mass spectrometry imaging systems at the basic research stage. It is understood that the approved projects cover multiple technical areas, including the development of novel ionisation sources, the design of high-resolution mass analysers, and imaging data processing algorithms, thereby establishing a comprehensive funding framework spanning the entire supply chain from core components to complete systems.

Impact on the Industrial Chain: From Core Components to Complete System Integration

The injection of policy funding is triggering a chain reaction across all segments of the industrial chain.

In the field of ionisation sources, companies such as Hefei Xinceyuan Instrument Technology Co., Ltd. have successfully developed mass spectrometry imaging sources independently. The company’s MSI DPI electrospray/photochemical ionisation mass spectrometry imaging source and MSI LDPI laser/photochemical ionisation mass spectrometry imaging source combine post-photonic ionisation technology with traditional DESI and LDI ionisation methods, achieving signal sensitivity that is 1–3 orders of magnitude higher than that of traditional single-ionisation modes. These two imaging ion sources have broken the reliance on imported components in the core ionisation stage, providing a foundation of key components for the integrated assembly of domestically produced mass spectrometry imaging systems.

In the mass analyser segment, progress has also been made in the independent development of dual-field reflection time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS). The New Source ProC series of online time-of-flight mass spectrometers utilises a proprietary dual-field acceleration-reflector architecture, achieving a mass resolution of R > 3,500 (FWHM) and a sampling frequency of up to 30,000 Hz, with technical specifications matching those of comparable international products. As one of the most critical mass analysers in a mass spectrometry imaging system, the localisation of TOF-MS means that the most expensive core component of the complete mass spectrometry imager no longer needs to be sourced from abroad.

At the level of system integration, the development path for domestically produced mass spectrometry imagers is shifting from “assembly of imported components” to “independence in core components”. The localisation of key modules—such as the imaging ion source, mass analyser and data acquisition system—is expected to reduce the cost of the complete instrument from the 5–8 million yuan range of imported brands to the 2–4 million yuan range, significantly lowering the procurement threshold for research institutes and medical institutions.

The “add-on upgrade” model lowers the barrier to adoption

It is worth noting that domestic manufacturers of mass spectrometry imaging sources are exploring a new model to reduce the cost of adoption—the “add-on upgrade” approach.

Under the traditional model, research institutions wishing to conduct mass spectrometry imaging research would need to purchase a complete set of specialised mass spectrometry imaging instruments; even existing conventional mass spectrometers could not be repurposed. Xin Ceyuan’s MSI DPI and MSI LDPI imaging sources feature a modular, compatible design that allows them to be directly installed onto multiple mass spectrometers from the three leading brands—Agilent, AB SCIEX and Thermo—thereby upgrading existing conventional mass spectrometers into mass spectrometry imaging systems.

The core value of this approach lies in maximising asset utilisation. A large number of universities and research institutes in China are already equipped with LC-MS or GC-MS mass spectrometers; however, these instruments remain idle for the majority of the time outside of routine analyses. By retrofitting them with domestically produced imaging ion sources, these existing instruments can be switched to mass spectrometry imaging mode within a matter of hours to conduct molecular imaging studies on tissue sections, thereby avoiding the financial waste associated with purchasing entirely new instruments.

According to industry research data, there are currently over 10,000 imported mass spectrometers in China, of which an estimated 3,000–5,000 units are suitable for imaging upgrades. If just 10 per cent of this installed base were to undergo such upgrades, the corresponding market size could reach hundreds of millions of yuan—offering considerable growth potential for domestic manufacturers of mass spectrometry imaging sources.

Academic achievements bolster industry confidence

Academic validation of domestically produced mass spectrometry imaging technology is also progressing in parallel.

In 2024, Professor Pan Yang’s research group at the University of Science and Technology of China published a cover article in *Analytical Chemistry*, reporting a new mass spectrometry imaging method based on transmission laser desorption combined with post-laser photoionisation (t-AP-LDI/PI), which achieves a spatial resolution of 4 μm and enables molecular imaging at the single-cell scale. The technical solution underlying this achievement has been commercialised via the Xinceyuan MSI LDPI imaging source, with the transition from academic methodology to commercial product taking only approximately one year.

The close integration of academic achievements with industrial transformation provides strong endorsement for the market recognition of domestically produced mass spectrometry imaging technology. The primary concern for research users when selecting domestically produced equipment lies in technical reliability—specifically, whether it can generate high-quality, publishable data. As data produced by domestic imaging sources appear on the covers of top-tier journals in the field, this concern is being allayed.

Industry Outlook

Four factors—policy drivers, breakthroughs in core components, the revitalisation of the existing market, and the validation of academic achievements—are converging to propel the localisation of mass spectrometry imaging systems into an accelerated phase. Industry forecasts suggest that within the next 3–5 years, the market share of domestically produced mass spectrometry imaging systems in the domestic market is expected to rise from the current level of less than 10 per cent to 20–30 per cent, whilst the localisation rate for core components such as imaging ion sources may be even higher.

For research institutions and medical organisations, localisation brings not only lower procurement costs but, more importantly, enhanced localised technical support and customisation capabilities—imported brands often struggle to meet domestic users’ customisation requirements in specialised application scenarios, whereas domestic manufacturers can provide end-to-end technical support ranging from method development to after-sales maintenance. This service advantage may prove to be the key factor enabling domestically produced mass spectrometry imaging systems to overtake their competitors in the market.