SCIEX Partners with the Paulovich Lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
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The collaboration provides SCIEX rights to commercialize the immuno-MRM assays that have been developed in the Paulovich Laboratory, a member of the National Cancer Institute's Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium. This effort, aligned with the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) strategy to make technology more widely accessible through public/private partnerships, will result in commercially available assays that quantitatively measure phosphorylated and unmodified proteins known to be involved in cancer signaling pathways.
Targeted Proteomics was named "Method of the Year" by Nature Methods in 2013, and Dr. Christie Hunter at SCIEX was awarded the Human Proteome Organization's 2013 Science and Technology Award for her contributions to the development and commercialization of this technology. 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 has 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. "This collaboration will help to address this crisis and extend our leadership in protein quantitation, by delivering highly validated protein assays for use on our best-in-class QTRAP systems."
"SCIEX has a long history in quantitative mass spectrometry, providing complete LC-MS solutions to scientists for biological research. We are very excited about this collaboration" said Paulovich, a Member in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch. "Combined with the LC-MS systems from SCIEX, our immuno-MRM assays will enable academic and pharmaceutical researchers to rapidly generate high quality protein quantification results on target pathways."
This collaboration will produce highly validated off-the-shelf assays for running immuno-MRM experiments, which will improve biological reproducibility and thereby drive actionable research, which can be shared across labs.
As a key opinion leader and clinical researcher studying the molecular mechanisms of cancers for the purpose of developing novel therapies, Paulovich will receive the 2015 HUPO "Distinguished Achievement in Proteomic Sciences" award.
The immuno-MRM kits will be available in 2016.
