Blue Stream Laboratories, a new Boston-based contract product development and testing laboratory, has chosen to equip its protein characterisation lab with Agilent's proteomics tools
Blue Stream's management chose Agilent's products after conducting an in-depth cost-benefit evaluation of instruments offered by Agilent and its chief competitors.
Blue Stream Laboratories specialises in recombinant glycoprotein, peptide and small molecule product characterisation, lot release, and stability programmes required for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical product development.
Its services include analytical and in-vitro biological method development, validation and testing; formulation support; and microbiological testing.
At the heart of Blue Stream's lab setup is Agilent's HPLC-chip technology, an innovative form of liquid chromatography (LC) separation that replaces the traditional LC nanoflow column and source with a simple, compact microfluidics nanochip.
When combined with Agilent's 6340 ion trap mass spectrometer (MS) equipped with electron transfer dissociation (EDT), it is highly effective in identifying proteins and post-translational modifications.
Blue Stream's laboratory also features an Agilent 6210 time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer equipped with both Maldi and electrospray capabilities.
In the mix as well are supporting software and a services package.
"These Agilent instruments are helping to establish Blue Stream Laboratories as one of the premier contract research laboratories in the biologics product development and testing space," explained Blue Stream's president and co-founder Michael Kouchakdjian.
"To our knowledge, Blue Stream is the first commercial lab to use the combination of Agilent's HPLC chip with its ion trap mass spectrometer with ETD.
"This unique combination is particularly useful for complex protein characterization studies and will support our growing protein biomarker validation programme".
"There were many factors that went into our decision," commented Blue Stream chief scientific/operating officer Mario DiPaola.
"With two distinct but complementary Agilent instruments, we can better service our clients and substantially increase our productivity.
"Agilent offered us a terrific breadth of portfolio, high reliability and a comprehensive services package".
"Agilent's exclusive HPLC chip is revolutionising the LC landscape with its innovative technology.
"It played a significant role in the Agilent-only decision as well," DiPaola explained.
"We were very impressed with this new technology, which adds significant sensitivity to our MS analysis.
"We wanted to be at the forefront, and to date, no competitors offer anything remotely comparable.
"Our customers demand the latest technology to characterize their molecules," Kouchakdjian added.
"Their goals include determining the fine structure of complex glycoproteins.
"Analysis of small molecules, of antibody therapeutics and of protein and peptide biopharmaceuticals is also an important part of our business.
"Agilent's product suite allows us to do all of this handily, at a very competitive price."
