Thermo Fisher's Biomarker Research Initiatives in Mass Spectrometry (BRIMS) Center has extended its collaborative work with three academic institutions.
These include George Mason University's Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM), Johns Hopkins University, and Toronto's University Health Network (UHN).
For the past two years, these organisations have collaborated with BRIMS to accelerate the verification and validation of protein biomarkers for cancer and other diseases.
For years, biomarker researchers sought independent validation of putative biomarkers and routine, mass spectrometry-based quantitative assays suited for the rigors of clinical research.
Thermo Fisher's BRIMS Center addressed these challenges by developing targeted SRM-based quantitative mass spectrometry workflows that enable rapid assay development and cross validation of biomarker assays across the network of laboratories.
Each of the collaborators uses these biomarkers and assays as they perform research on identical Thermo Scientific TSQ Quantum Ultra triple quadrupole mass-spectrometer platforms.
Members of the collaboration team presented their results, an inter-lab reproducibility study, at the US Human Proteome Organization 2010 meeting, held from 7-10 March in Denver, Colorado.
The study is the first inter-lab study to demonstrate reproducible determination of protein abundance in a complex matrix such as blood.
The study also demonstrated that an optimised biomarker assay can be implemented relatively quickly across several laboratories without the need for additional optimisation.
