Analysers have provided high throughput instruments for automated MS and MS/MS analysis and have already made many more projects possible
Researchers in Madrid have greatly speeded up protein analysis and identification for a number of diverse projects with two Applied Biosystems 4700 proteomics analysers.
Fernando Vivanco, professor of Biochemistry at Universidad Complutense, Madrid, and head of the proteomics unit, explained: "We provide a central service to the diverse scientific community of Madrid, Spain and the whole EU, giving researchers access to state-of-the-art technologies for protein analysis and particularly mass spectrometry of proteins and peptides. "The 4700 analysers, bought in early 2003, have provided high throughput instruments for automated MS and MS/MS analysis and have already made many more different projects possible. "They are ideal because they give us exactly what we need - automation, accuracy, rapidity and integration of results with other data.
"The 4700 analysers have been used for numerous projects, including looking at the molecular basis of cardiovascular diseases.
"Researchers have recently been able to describe the secreted proteome of atherosclerotic plaques and identified potential protein biomarkers of disease stages and proteins differentially expressed by monocytes in patients who had acute coronary syndromes.
"We chose the 4700 after thorough evaluation because it has good integration of hardware and software and is compatible with search engines and software programs for protein identification.
"It is a true Tof/Tof instrument and both the automation and the rapidity with which it performs MS and MS/MS on a very large number of samples are very impressive.
"Another important consideration was the good service and support we have previously had from Applied Biosystems.
"We are now expanding the 4700 analysers to other applications, such as de novo sequencing and posttranslational modification studies."
