The Waters Xevo CDMS provides confident analysis of new modalities, like empty, partial, and full viral vector capsids, using up to 100-fold less sample volume than that required by current techniques, and delivering results in less than ten minutes.
Analytica 2026, Munich — Waters Corporation’s Xevo CDMS, launched in October 2025, is a benchtop charge detection mass spectrometer (CDMS) built around an Electrostatic Linear Ion Trap (ELIT) that measures individual ions’ mass-to-charge ratio and charge simultaneously, calculating true molecular mass for intact biomolecules up to 150+ MDa without the deconvolution or digestion steps conventional high-mass MS requires. The underlying ELIT technology was developed by Distinguished Professors Martin Jarrold and David Clemmer at Indiana University through Megadalton Solutions; Waters acquired the IP in 2022 and spent three years commercializing it.
Waters says the system, which we profiled at Pittcon, requires 10 µL of sample and can analyze viral vector capsids in less than 10 minutes per sample, with sensitivity down to 1 × 1010 vp/mL.
The instrument targets one of biopharma’s sharpest analytical bottlenecks: characterizing the heterogeneous capsid mixtures that come off AAV manufacturing lines. A typical batch contains empty, partially filled, and fully loaded particles all clustered in roughly the 3.7–6 MDa range. The heterogeneity blurs charge-state resolution on conventional platforms like Thermo Fisher’s Q Exactive UHMR and pushes developers toward slower methods like sedimentation velocity AUC. The Xevo CDMS distinguishes empty, partial, full, and overfull capsids in under 10 minutes per sample. The system runs on Waters’ GxP-ready waters_connect platform, meaning the same instrument and data format can follow a candidate from research through GMP manufacturing.
The launch also gains context from Waters’ completion of its roughly $18.8 billion combination with BD’s Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions businesses in February 2026, which reorganized the company into four divisions and brought flow cytometry, clinical diagnostics, and single-cell multiomics under the same roof. Waters can now position instruments that follow a biotherapeutic from early molecular characterization through cell-based assays to clinical testing.
| Xevo CDMS — Key Specs | |
|---|---|
| Mass range | <100 kDa to >150 MDa |
| Sample volume | 10 µL |
| Analysis time | <10 min per sample (viral vector capsids) |
| Sensitivity | 1 × 1010 vp/mL |
| Dimensions | 642 × 704 × 1360 mm |
| Power | 90–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz |
Waters launched the system in October 2025 and is presenting it at Analytica 2026 as part of its biopharmaceutical analysis portfolio.
Announced at Analytica 2026, Munich, March 24–27.
