Making Proteomics More Efficient: Alliance Between Roche and Bruker Daltonics to Develop Highly Sensitive Protein Analysis
BREMEN, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2002--Roche and Bruker Daltonics (NASDAQ: BDAL - news) today announced an expanded alliance in the field of proteomics. The resulting collaboration will focus on the development of highly efficient methods for mass spectrometric protein analysis.
Following the sequencing of the human genome, scientific attention has shifted toward the analysis of gene products, i.e., proteins. Proteomics looks extensively at the function and role of proteins in healthy as well as disease states. Mass spectrometry plays a central role in identifying and characterizing proteins in the course of expression proteomics projects, which measure the proteins produced in a cell on a large-scale. Limiting factors of protein analysis today are the complexity of these molecules, as well as the limited amount of material available. In contrast to genes, proteins cannot be amplified in vitro and therefore only tiny amounts are available for detailed analysis. Thus, the development of protein analysis methods providing better sensitivity and throughput is of utmost significance in making efficient use of the protein sequence databases, which are derived from the human genome sequence.
The objective of the alliance between Roche and Bruker Daltonics is to further increase the current performance level of mass spectrometric proteomics analyses by innovative sample preparation and high performance automation on the level of laboratory procedures, mass spectral data acquisition, data processing and newly designed software for protein analysis. As part of the strategic alliance, a high-throughput mass spectrometry system capable of processing more than 10,000 proteins per day will be developed. This system will be made available by Bruker Daltonics to allow scientists to generate and utilize data in proteomics projects more efficiently.
This alliance will further strengthen Roche's research activities in this area, essential for the understanding of the molecular causes of disease. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed. As part of the collaboration, Roche has already acquired 14 Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI) Time-Of-Flight (TOF) systems for analyzing proteins from Bruker Daltonics, including an UltraFlex TOF/TOF (tandem Time-of-Flight) system installed at Roche in December 2001. Moreover, Roche has an option to acquire additional systems in 2002, and intends to exercise its option to exchange at least 10 of its MALDI-TOF systems for UltraFlex TOF/TOF systems... |
