Thermo Fisher Scientific has supplied proteomics equipment to the integrative network biology initiative at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).
The ICR's new proteomics laboratory is equipped with a complete Thermo Scientific proteomics workflow, including the Kingfisher Flex automated sample-preparation system, the TSQ Vantage triple quadrupole and the UK's first two LTQ Orbitrap Velos mass spectrometers.
This workflow provides powerful capabilities to meet the needs of the ICR's demanding research goals.
Dr Rune Linding, head of the cellular and molecular logic team at the ICR, said: 'Typically, cancer research focuses on the function and behaviour of individual genes or proteins.
'The ICR's effort aims to assess how networks of cancer cells interact with each other and surrounding tissues to metastasize, or spread, throughout the body.
'By modelling and simulating how cancer cells interact within the larger biological network, ICR researchers hope to achieve breakthroughs leading to new drugs or treatments that prevent metastasis - the process that claims the lives of about 90 per cent of cancer patients.
'The LTQ Orbitrap Velos and TSQ Vantage systems enable us to push the boundaries and analyse completely new aspects of cellular signalling networks and perform massive-scale studies of the dynamics in these networks.
'This is crucial as we believe the progression of cancer is due to changes in these molecular networks.' Prof Chris Marshall, the chairman of the ICR's section of cell and molecular biology, added: 'We think that the integration of data from mass-spectrometry analysis with other data, such as genetic RNAi screens, will allow us to generate detailed models of processes such as invasion and metastasis.
'Such a detailed understanding is important to start treating the signalling network as a whole rather than individual nodes, an approach known as network medicine.' The collaboration involves a number of Thermo Fisher Scientific solutions, including laboratory equipment, silencing RNA, protein reagents, mass spectrometry and related services.
