SCIEX, a company focused on life science analytical technologies, announced a collaboration with the laboratory of Amanda Paulovich, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, to make targeted proteomics in cancer research more reproducible and specific.
The collaboration provides SCIEX rights to commercialize the immuno-MRM assays that have been made in the Paulovich Laboratory, a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium.
This effort, aligned with NIH’s strategy to make technology more widely accessible through public and private partnerships, will result in commercially available assays that quantitatively measure phosphorylated and unmodified proteins known to be involved in cancer signaling pathways.
To extend the reach of this technology, and make it more sensitive, and more routine and reproducible, an augmented approach is required over direct-MRM.
Immuno-MRM assays combine the best features of immunoassays and mass spectrometry to provide highly reproducible, specific and sensitive quantification of target proteins, including phosphorylated proteins.
However, a lack of availability of off-the-shelf content for this technique has been holding the field back, and this partnership aims to redress that.
By partnering with the Paulovich Laboratory, SCIEX will offer researchers a complete solution for mass spectrometry-based protein quantification of specific key biological pathways.
At the HUPO 2015 Annual World Congress this week, SCIEX introduced an improved targeted proteomics workflow that includes the new QTRAP 6500+ system and microflow LC, to combine high sensitivity and high throughput, and the Beckman Biomek Laboratory Automated Workstation, with optimized workflows for protein digestion.
The immuno-MRM kits will be commercialized for this workflow, creating a solution that will include sample preparation reagents, antibodies and beads for target enrichment, internal standards for quantification, and related methods for LC-MS and data analysis.
“The research reproducibility crisis has been well-documented in the media recently, especially around antibody quality for Immunoassays.” said Aaron Hudson, senior director of academic and clinical research business at SCIEX.”
The immuno-MRM kits will be available in 2016.
