Inside Instrumentation

Applied Biosystems in marketing deal with Invitrogen

Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems have signed a comarketing and reselling alliance to deliver products for proteomic analyses and biomarker studies in drug discovery and disease research. They will offer a combined collection of labeling technologies consisting of Applied Biosystems' protein- and peptide-labeling technologies--iTRAQ and ICAT reagents--and Invitrogen's newly launched SILAC proteomics labeling technology. Applied Biosystems will provide software support for SILAC on some of its mass spectrometry products. The companies also plan to develop and comarket easy-to-use proteomic application kits that support the preparation of samples for study by mass spectrometry, as well as proteomics offerings, including matrices, solubilizers, and calibration standards.

Companies target metabolomic studies

Agilent Technologies and Human Metabolome Technologies (HMT) of Japan are collaborating on the development of metabolome analysis tools for drug discovery. Through metabolomic studies, researchers strive to understand how organisms function under different conditions, such as stress or disease, by characterizing complete sets of metabolites, which may lead to targets for drug development. The companies will integrate HMT's biochemical assays with Agilent's capillary electrophoresis and mass spectrometry technologies for high-throughput profiling, identification, and quantification of metabolic markers. They expect to have a system on the market within six months. 

Triumvirate forms analysis alliance

Applied Biosystems and its partner MDS Sciex have joined with Dionex to develop ion chromatography-mass spectrometry (IC-MS) and liquid chromatography-MS methodologies for emerging market opportunities. The alliance's first project has already focused on the analysis of perchlorate, and EPA has incorporated the work in its recommended method for determining perchlorate in drinking water using IC-MS. The IC-MS combination "provides a way for scientists to confirm both the presence and amount of a contaminant in a single analysis," says Mark P. Stevenson, Applied Biosystems' division president for applied markets. Future projects will focus on combining Dionex' chromatography technologies with Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex' mass spectrometers for analyzing a wide range of other target analytes.

Firms debut new columns

Waters has added new members to its family of liquid chromatography columns packed with hybrid particles, which combine the efficiency of silica-based materials with the pH resistance of polymer packing materials. The first generation of ethylene-bridged hybrid particles was incorporated in the Acquity UPLC system. The new Xbridge family of columns expands the technology into the HPLC and preparative chromatography markets. Meanwhile, Varian has introduced new offerings in its FactorFour family of ultra-low-bleed gas chromatography columns. The new columns are ultra-low-bleed cyano-based columns for use in EPA and U.S. Pharmacopeia analytical methods.

  PRODUCTS LAUNCHED AT MASS SPEC MEETING

Several mass spectrometry manufacturers announced new products at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) meeting last month in San Antonio. Thermo Electron introduced two mass spectrometers. The LTQ Orbitrap (shown), a hybrid mass spectrometer combining a linear ion trap and a type of Fourier transform mass analyzer, is intended for small-molecule research, drug discovery, proteomics, and metabolomics. In addition, Thermo unveiled a new configuration for its PolarisQ ion-trap instrument that includes the Focus GC for forensic, environmental, and flavor and fragrance analysis. The instrument is also suitable for teaching laboratories. Waters also expanded its product line with a new benchtop GC-MS system. The GCT Premier combines gas chromatography with orthogonal time of flight and acquires spectra twice as fast as the previous model.

Other product announcements at ASMS focused on new platforms for the discovery of biomarkers--proteins or metabolites that can be used to report on the state of a biological system. PerkinElmer launched its BioXPRESSION Biomarker platform, which includes the prOTOF 2000 MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer, ProXPRESSION carrier-protein-based blood biomarker enrichment kits, and BAMF technology (a biomarker filter) from Predictive Diagnostics. The platform has already been used to identify biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease. Bruker Daltonics introduced new members of its ClinProt portfolio of magnetic beads for sample prefractionation: Large-Protein Beads, Glyco-Beads, and Antibody-Capture Beads. The Large-Protein Beads expand biomarker research beyond peptides and small proteins. The Glyco-Beads capture proteins that have attached carbohydrates through chemical means or through lectins (sugar-binding proteins). The Antibody-Capture Beads allow sample enrichment of all proteins that bind a specific antibody.

Inside Instrumentation is written by Celia M. Henry and Ann M. Thayer. Contact them via e-mail to instrumentation@acs.org.