FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 22, 2000--PE Biosystems Group (NYSE:PEB - news), a PE Corporation business now conducting business under the Applied Biosystems name, announced today it has signed agreements with Geneva Proteomics, Inc. (GeneProt) for GeneProt to become an early access customer for Applied Biosystems' next-generation MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometer and the new ICAT(TM) reagents.
These technologies are intended to offer protein researchers higher throughput with enhanced informational content as they pursue a better understanding of proteins and their role in the onset and treatment of disease.
Under the agreements, GeneProt intends to deploy MALDI TOF/TOF mass spectrometers and ICAT(TM) reagents, with the initial delivery of early access versions of the technologies beginning in the first half of calendar year 2001. Applied Biosystems could incorporate feedback on the performance of these technologies into refinements for subsequent commercial launches later in 2001. Additional terms of the agreements were not disclosed.
``The agreements with GeneProt highlight the value of technologies being developed at our Framingham (Mass.) facility,'' said Michael W. Hunkapiller, Ph.D., president of Applied Biosystems. ``We are continuing to expand our proteomics portfolio, with the aim of creating integrated proteomics systems to take protein research to a new level of throughput and value-added informational content.''
The MALDI TOF/TOF utilizes Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI) with Time of Flight/Time of Flight (TOF/TOF) technology and bioinformatics to identify, sequence and characterize protein samples. This system leverages Applied Biosystems' strength in MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry with the intention of increasing throughput and adding mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (MS/MS) capability to enable high-throughput protein identification, including amino acid sequence and post-translational modifications.
The isotope coded affinity tag technology was invented by Ruedi Aebersold, Ph.D., of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Wash., while he was a professor at the University of Washington. The ICAT(TM) reagents and isotope coded affinity tag method are intended to offer researchers a powerful new mass spectrometry-based process for preparing and analyzing complex samples such as human tissue to identify the proteins present and determine their relative expression levels. For example, this type of analysis is particularly useful to researchers in comparing healthy and diseased tissues with the goal of identifying potential drug targets or diagnostic markers.
Applied Biosystems has obtained an exclusive worldwide license from the University of Washington to manufacture and commercialize the ICAT(TM) reagents.
Applied Biosystems is developing new tools to modernize proteomics much as it pioneered new technology in the late '90s to enhance genomics. The group's Proteomics Research Center is leveraging Applied Biosystems' existing proteomics expertise and internal research capabilities while facilitating collaboration with complementary research and technology partners. The goal is to achieve breakthroughs in complete systems solutions resulting in orders of magnitude improvement in throughput and the production of high-quality information..... |
