Proteomics revolution at Pronota brings us a step closer to personalised medicine

4800 Plus MALDI TOF/TOF™

Pronota, a protein biomarker discovery company based in Ghent, Belgium, has developed powerful new chromatographic methods in combination with advanced mass spectrometry-based technologies from Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex to transform protein discovery and characterisation studies. Pronota focuses on discovering and characterising potential biomarkers, identifying the most promising candidates to use as molecular tools for disease diagnosis and monitoring treatments. Pronota's novel, state-of-the-art proprietary platform is compatible with starting samples as diverse as blood, other body fluids and cell line tissue, and comprises four levels: semi-automated sample preparation; reduction of the complexity of biological samples using gel-free liquid chromatography technology; mass spectrometry of the simplified sample using seven Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex instruments and, finally, bioinformatics statistical data mining. The platform provides high throughput, high content proteomic analysis of biological samples extremely rapidly, including the profile and the identity of each biomarker.

Dr Koen Kas, Chief Scientific Officer at Pronota, explained, "We chose Applied Biosystems because we needed high resolution combined with good throughput, speed and accuracy, and the instruments concerned offered a good combination of these features. We now have different systems from Applied Biosystems, including QSTAR® and QTRAP® systems, and 4800 MALDI TOF/TOF™ Proteomics Analyzers, mainly because of their excellent throughput. With these systems we plan to fully automate sample preparation and to extend our range of target diseases and their corresponding biomarkers."

The QTRAP® System gives exceptional sensitivity for protein identification and characterisation and, for proteomics, it can generate fast full scans at high sensitivity. The 4800 Proteomics Analyzer gives high resolution spectral information and maximises sample throughput. This analyser incorporates patented TOF/TOF™ optics for accurate protein identification and enhanced characterisation, combined with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation (MALDI) for ease-of-use and high throughput.