NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – AB Sciex said today it is providing use of an AB Sciex QTrap 5500 mass spectrometer as part of its collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CDC Foundation aimed at facilitating the use of mass specs in clinical laboratories for hormone testing.
The collaboration aims to support the CDC's Hormone Standardization Project to improve the reliability of laboratory results used for assessing disease risk and monitoring treatment, AB Sciex said in a statement.
The Hormone Standardization Project seeks to address challenges in clinical research, such as the lack of comparability of data across studies and measurement systems, and a dearth of performance assays, especially at low concentrations. That includes testing for testosterone levels in women and children. CDC is working to develop a reference method for mass spectrometry "to improve comparability, specificity, and reliability of results, and help facilitate more accurate testing practices," the company said.
Use of the QTrap 5500 is being provided by AB Sciex through a contribution to the CDC Foundation. Other terms of the deal were not disclosed.