NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Comprehensive Cancer Center Proteomics Facility are using Genedata’s mass spectrometry analysis software to help them in their efforts to identify protein biomarkers for human diseases using animal models, the company said today.
Under a collaboration agreement, UAB scientists are using the company’s Expressionist system to analyze data related to pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, and cystic fibrosis.
In those studies, the researchers are using the Expressionist Refiner MS and Analyst modules for pre-processing and statistical analysis.
The UAB proteomics team is using the Refiner MS module to create matched peak lists across all samples, and is then performing statistical analysis using the Analyst module to identify peaks that differentiate normal and disease states. Conducting peak processing and analysis up front, the company said, UAB researchers have been able to “identify biomarker peptides that they would have otherwise missed had they only captured secondary MS traces running instruments in a more typical data-dependent mode.”
James Mobley, director of the proteomics facility, said in a statement that the structure of the system it used in the collaboration enabled the team to identify “key biomarkers with a relatively small cohort” and “associated pathways that were otherwise difficult to discern.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.