Syngene has announced that its Dyversity 2D imaging system is being used by the University of Lausanne in Switzerland to help identify proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases.
Scientists at the Centre for Psychiatric Neurosciences at the university are using the system to analyse differential 2D gel electrophoresis (DIGE) acrylamide gels of brain proteins labelled with different Dyomics fluorescent dyes, including maleimide dyes with wavelengths of 400 to 700nm.
This is allowing the researchers to determine the mechanisms affecting protein composition during neurodegeneration, which they believe will help them identify disease-specific markers and define their role in disease progression.
Prof Beat Riederer said: 'We are studying neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
'Protein oxidation alters protein function with aging and alters function-nervous cells.
'A recently developed technique allows us to identify different oxidation forms in control and Alzheimer brain tissue.
'We label our proteins with different fluorescent dyes and Coomassie Blue, and subsequently identify proteins by MS analysis.
'We then run them on DIGE gels and use the protein spots directly in MS to identify which proteins are oxidised at the cysteine residue.
'To image the labelled gels we use the Dyversity system because it allows imaging of three or more samples separated on the same 2D electrophoresis gel and by overlaying each protein pattern we can subsequently locate differences in protein composition.' Riederer added: 'Two years ago we started using the Syngene Dyversity.
'This system has several filter slots to allow imaging of lots of dye colours together and to date we have imaged DIGE gels with three different colours on the same gel to produce an image in just 2min.'
