The Massterclass platform addresses a key bottleneck in biomarker development by enabling large-scale screening of biomarker candidates without the requirement to raise antibodies
Pronota, a Belgium-based biomarker discovery and development company, announced today the launch of Massterclass, its highly-sensitive protein biomarker verification tool, at the Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference in San Francisco.
The system raises the analytical bar for antibody-free protein assays by quantitating in the low nanogram per ml concentration range in blood plasma, thereby enabling efficient and reliable measurement of proteins specific to disease or drug response, says the company.
Massterclass incorporates a novel series of orthogonal complexity reduction steps combined with targeted tandem mass spectrometry to achieve required sensitivity levels while maintaining analytical reproducibility.
The workflow also ensures that throughput is maintained when screening large panels of biomarker candidates by multiplexing different analytes in the same assay.
The new platform complements Masstermind, Pronota's biomarker discovery platform capable of generating a high quality hit-list of low-abundance protein biomarkers in blood.
The combination of both platforms represents an integrated approach that significantly increases the chances of taking a biomarker from discovery through to clinical implementation within a practical timeframe.
"The introduction of Massterclass represents an important milestone for Pronota", commented Nick McCooke, CEO.
"The platform allows Pronota and our partners to bridge the gap between biomarker discovery and the final clinical assay through the efficient assessment and selection of the most promising candidates with the best clinical performance either alone or combined in panels".
