Agents of Change: Tracking Tumor Progression With MALDI Imaging of Glycans

Glycosylation is seen as playing a key role in tumor development. Researchers at the Bruker-MUSC Clinical Glycomics Center of Excellence are developing and applying new technologies to map glycans in tissue and classify changes that occur during development of cancer. Glycans present on each glycoprotein in the tissue are analyzed using MALDI Imaging mass spectrometry, a label-free molecular imaging technique, to correlate specific glycan distributions with disease. Currently used only for research purposes, if brought to market, these tools promise earlier cancer detection and customized therapies.  Learn more by watching this presentation by Dr. Richard Drake.