Thermo to Come out with ion trap/Fourier Transform Mass Spec Hybrid in March
During a presentation at last week’s JPMorgan 21st Annual Healthcare Conference, Thermo Electron, Thermo Finnigan’s parent company, announced that it will introduce an ion trap/FTMS hybrid at Pittcon in March.
The new instrument will have automated LC-MS/MS and MALDI-MS, offer high resolution (40,000 at 500 Da), and cost between $650,000 and $700,000.
It will be “well suited for drug discovery and proteomics applications,” said Marijn Dekkers, Thermo Electron’s CEO. “It’s designed to be a workhorse system, not a research system.”
According to Dekkers, the system has already been beta-tested, for example by Don Hunt at the University of Virginia, and will be ready to ship in March.
Amersham and GeneBio Collaborate on Bioinformatics Tools for Proteomics
Amersham Biosciences of Little Chalfont, UK, and Geneva Bioinformatics of Geneva, Switzerland, said last week they would collaborate strategically to develop and distribute bioinformatics tools for proteomics research and training.
As part of the collaboration, Amersham Biosciences, the life sicences business unit of Amersham, will exclusively distribute GeneBio’s training program in bioinformatics and proteomics.
This training program helps scientists learn how to use bioinformatics databases and data analysis tools in an optimal way.
Bruker Daltonics Signs Reseller Agreement with Genomic Solutions, Reports Strong Fourth Quarter Life-Science Orders
Genomic Solutions of Ann Arbor, Mich., a subsidiary of Harvard Bioscience, and Bruker Daltonics of Billerica, Mass., said last week they had signed a non-exclusive worldwide reseller agreement.
Under the contract, Bruker will incorporate Genomic Solutions’ ProFound and Sonar MS/MS search engines into its line of mass spectrometers. These search engines will work with Bruker’s data analysis software ProteinScape and BioTools to streamline and improve the accuracy of protein identification via MALDI or MS/MS, according to the company.
Separately, Bruker reported that new orders for its life science systems grew 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2002, compared to the same quarter in 2001.
According to Frank Laukien, Bruker’s president and CEO, both the MALDI-TOF and the ion trap product lines “experienced a strong finish for the year.”
For the entire year of 2002, orders for Bruker’s MALDI-TOF/TOF and its ESI-(Q-q)TOF showed the strongest growth, Laukien said in a statement.
Almost two thirds of Bruker’s life science orders in 2002 came from universities, medical research institutions, governmental life science labs, and other non profit institutions, “where we expect to see continued strong funding worldwide in 2003,” said Laukien. “Geographically, we are particularly pleased with our growth in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Protea Biosciences Provides Proteomics Services to Novartis
Protea Biosciences of Morgantown, W. Va., said last week that it had signed a contract with Novartis Pharmaceuticals to provide the pharma giant with proteomics services.
Protea will analyze serum samples from cancer patients by mass spectrometry, in order to identify novel protein biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis.
The company is developing and commercializing proteomics technology from West Virginia University. It offers protein analysis services, including protein characterization, identification of posttranslational modifications, and protein-protein interactions.
Waters Signs Marketing Agreement with Taratec
Waters of Milford, Mass., and Taratec of Bridgewater, NJ, have signed a cooperative marketing agreement.
Under the contract, Waters will add the global computer systems validation and 21 CRF Part 11 expertise of Taratec to its Connections Compliance Services for chromatography instruments and software.
The partnership aims at providing Waters’ customers with an approach to achieve compliance with FDA and ICH (International Conference on Harmonization) requirements, by complementing the existing suite of Waters qualification services with a portfolio of compliance services designed specifically for those HPLC systems that operate in a networked environment.
The partnership extends an agreement Waters and Taratec started in 2000, which recognizes Taratec as a Premier Partner with the Waters Software Partnership Program for the integration of Millennium32 and Empower software into commercial and in-house developed LIMS.