Proteomics firm Expression Pathology this week announced a service partnership with digital pathology company Flagship Biosciences for protein biomarker development using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue.
The deal combines Expression Pathology's abilities in mass spec-based assays for FFPE tissue with Flagship's pathology expertise, allowing the partners to identify tissue features or sub-anatomic organelles of research interest and then extract and prep them for proteomic analysis.
Expression Pathology uses its Director laser microdissection platform to collect specific cell types from FFPE tissue. It then applies its Liquid Tissue technology to solubilize and capture the protein content of the tissue, which it then analyzes via single-reaction monitoring mass spectrometry.
The company, which, according to its website, is in the process of establishing a CLIA-certified laboratory from which it plans to provide proprietary diagnostic tests developed on its platform, offers a number of SRM assays, including several for major cancer signaling networks like EFGR, IGF-1R, cMET, Her3, cSRC, and MEK.
Last December, Expression Pathology began a collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific's BRIMS Center to use its FFPE sample prep to extract proteins for single-reaction monitoring assays aimed at developing cancer biomarkers (PM 12/18/2009). In May, it announced it was working with several Toronto-area hospitals to develop an assay for identifying patients most likely to respond to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor drugs (PM 05/07/2010).