Waters Corporation, a Milford, Massachusetts-based life sciences and diagnostics company, has acquired MOBILion Systems, developer of SLIM high-resolution ion mobility separation technology, the company announced on November 3, 2026. MOBILion has been based in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The deal broadens Waters’ entry into proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“MOBILion’s team brings deep expertise in developing and advancing this technology,” said Dr. Udit Batra, President and Chief Executive Officer of Waters Corporation. “Pairing SLIM ion mobility separation with the speed, resolution and sensitivity capabilities of our mass spectrometry portfolio will help scientists better understand complex biology and transform data into actionable insights.”
What MOBILion Brings
MOBILion’s SLIM (Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations) technology separates molecules by size, shape, and charge in milliseconds. It can distinguish molecular differences that are hard to resolve with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry alone. Waters will pair SLIM with its Xevo™ MRT mass spectrometer and expects the combination to improve proteome coverage, sensitivity, and throughput for complex biological samples.
The acquisition also brings MOBILion’s team and its ion mobility expertise to Waters.
“SLIM was built to see what other separations miss,” said Dr. Melissa Sherman, Chief Executive Officer of MOBILion Systems. “By bringing our high-resolution ion mobility technology together with Waters’ complementary differentiated multi reflecting time of flight technology, we can extend the impact of SLIM and help scientists reveal more meaningful discoveries in proteomics, enabling it to progress from leading research labs into routine testing worldwide.”
According to Waters’ internal estimates, the market for liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) proteomics is worth $2 billion and growing at a high single-digit rate.
Building Toward AI-Driven Research
Waters plans to use SLIM to generate high-quality data at the scale needed to train and run AI models, including for large cohort studies. The company is connecting its instruments to AI tools through Waters AI Link, which brings Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) to its waters_connect™ software. Waters is also part of Anthropic’s Model Hardware Standard (MHS) research program. Together, these efforts support “lab-in-the-loop” research, in which AI agents help design experiments and direct instruments on their own.
From Discovery to Diagnostics
Waters sees a path from early research to clinical testing on a single platform. Biomarkers discovered with SLIM could be verified and validated in clinical trial cohorts using its Xevo TQ Absolute XR tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer.
Over the longer term, Waters says its mass spectrometers already installed in clinical labs could support routine blood-based protein tests. Potential uses include multi-cancer early detection (MCED) and minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring.
About Waters Corporation
Waters develops analytical instruments, informatics, and services, with a focus on regulated, high-volume testing. Its customers use its technologies to support drug development and quality, food and water safety, and disease detection. The company has about 15,000 employees.
About MOBILion Systems
Founded in 2015, MOBILion is a scientific instrumentation company that develops ion mobility technologies for separating and characterizing complex molecules. Its SLIM technology was developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Cautionary Statement
This release contains “forward-looking” statements regarding future results and events, including statements regarding the expected benefits of the transaction. For this purpose, any statements that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words “will,” “feels”, “believes”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “expects”, “intends”, “suggests”, “appears”, “estimates”, “projects” and similar expressions, whether in the negative or affirmative, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Our actual future results may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements within this release for a variety of reasons, including and without limitation, risks or uncertainties related to, and expectations regarding our ability to realize commercial success subsequent to the completion of our acquisition of the Business and other risk factors detailed from time to time in Waters’ reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Such factors and others that are discussed more fully in the sections entitled “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” of Waters’ annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 as filed with the SEC, which discussions are incorporated by reference in this release, as updated by Waters’ subsequent filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements included in this release represent Waters’ estimates or views as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing Waters’ estimates or views as of any date subsequent to the date of this release. Except as required by law, Waters does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Contact:
Molly Gluck
Director, Product Communications
Waters Corporation
+1.508.498.9732
[email protected]
Caspar Tudor
Head of Investor Relations
Waters Corporation
+1.508.482.3448
[email protected]
Source: Waters Corporation, https://ir.waters.com/News–Events/newsroom/news-details/2026/Waters-Acquires-MOBILion-Systems-Bringing-Advanced-Ion-Mobility-Separation-to-its-Mass-Spectrometry-Portfolio-with-the-Speed-and-Resolution-AI-Workflows-Require-for-Proteomics-Biomarker-Discovery/default.aspx on November 3, 2026. Republished with credit to the original author. Read the original article.
