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Brief History of Mass Spectrometry in Greece & Establishment of the Hellenic Mass Spectrometry Society

In the late 60’s and early 70’s, there were a number of initiatives in Greece that ended up with the installation of two Hittachi Perkin-Elmer RMU6M mass spectrometers; one operating at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Laboratory of Organic Chemistry-Prof. Varvoglis) and the other in NRCPS “Demokritos” (Researcher V. Papadopoulos). In the 70’s, there were only few researchers that had been trained in the operation of mass spectrometers in Greece. A dedicated Mass Spectrometry laboratory had been in operation in the late 70’s in the R&D department of the company VIORYL SA (Dr. G. Giannovitch-Argiriadi). At the same time, two MAT 44 GC-MS systems were installed at the National Technical University of Athens (Professors G. Parissakis and M. Statheropoulos/then graduate student) and in the State Chemistry Lab (Dr. J. Croneos). In the 80’s the software MS-SIMULA, a PC simulator for training students and operators in the use of mass spectrometer was published (Prof. M. Statheropoulos, National Technical University of Athens -NTUA-). This software later was upgraded to a multimedia application and is still used in a number of courses for training students in mass spectrometry.

It should be noted that significant mass spectrometry-related activities have emerged in Greece during the last decade. The first research oriented mass spectrometry laboratory in Greece was the one established in 1999 in the Bioanalytical Chemistry laboratory of the GAIA Research Center within the Goulandris Natural History Museum in Athens, Greece (Drs E. Gikas and F. Bazoti) headed by Professor A. Tsarbopoulos. That was closely followed by the Laboratory of Protein Chemistry at the Biomedical Sciences Research Center “Alexander Fleming” headed by Dr. G. Panayotou, whereas in 2004 the laboratories of Proteomics (Dr. S. Garbis) and Pharmacology – Pharmacotechnology (Dr. C. Tamvakopoulos) were established at the IIBEAA Center – Foundation of Biomedical Research of the Academy of Athens. That was the start of a steadily growing number of other mass spectrometry research laboratories in Universities including those at the Departments of Chemistry of the University of Crete (headed by Professor Stephanou), Aristotle University, University of Patras, University of Ioannina and the Departments of Pharmacy and Chemistry of the University of Athens. In addition, it’s worth mentioning other non-academic laboratories active in the field of mass spectrometry, such as the local equivalent EPA and Doping Control laboratories (headed by Drs. D. Tsipi and G. Georgakopoulos, respectively), the Pesticides Residues Laboratory at the Benaki Phytopathological Institute (Drs. Miliadis and Liapis) and the Dioxin Analysis Laboratory in the National Centre of Scientific Research “DEMOKRITOS” (headed by Dr. L. Leondiadis).

Nevertheless, in the early to mid-80’s there was a small group of Greek scientists which were active in the field of mass spectrometry on the other side of the Atlantic (USA). The leading figure was Professor Paul Vouros (Baylor College of Medicine/Northeastern University) along with Drs. Chris Wedsdemiotis (Cornell University), Anthony Tsarbopoulos (Mayo Clinic) and Ioannis Papayannopoulos (MIT). This small group got together in the annual American Society for Mass Spectrometry meeting and had discussions how to organize the slowly increasing number of Greek-origin mass spectrometry graduate students in USA. Notable meetings of that group were during the 36^th and 41^st ASMS Conferences in San Francisco, California, in 1988 and 1993, respectively. It was not until the 50^th ASMS Conference in Orlando, Florida (June 2002) where the first large gathering of the Greek-origin mass spectrometrists working in USA, Canada, UK and Sweden was held with substantial discussions focused on the establishment of Hellenic Mass Spectrometry Society (HMSS). Since then, the annual group dinners during the ASMS Conferences have been the place for sharing ideas and setting the foundation for the formation of HMSS.

The decision to organize the Desorption 2006 International Conference in Athens (September 3-7, 2006) generated considerable interest among a variety of potential users from the local scientific community and created a strong nucleus and impetus which finally led to the formation of HMSS. The establishment of HMSS was held on April 17^th, 2008 during a two-day international workshop on Metabolomics held at the GAIA Research Center in Athens (April 17-18, 2008). A five-member board has been elected with two-year tenure during that meeting, and the next day there was a workshop focused on Metabolomics. The Society headquarters are in Athens (13 Levidou street, Kifissia 145 62, Greece). Recently, the HMSS has sponsored a two-day International Workshop on Systems Biology held in Thessaloniki, Greece (October 30-31, 2008), and it will organize another workshop on Proteomics in May 2009. Finally, HMSS will not only reflect but also support the rapid emergence of mass spectrometry in Greece and it will take its place within the International Mass Spectrometry Societies.

Anthony Tsarbopoulos (atsarbop@upatras.gr & atsarbop@gnhm.gr)

Former president of the Hellenic Mass Spectrometry Society