NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Waters today said that it has donated a Synapt MS System, its latest generation of mass spectrometers, to a Quebec-based research center for screening, clinical diagnosis, and assessment of treatments for specific hereditary diseases.
The mass spec system was donated to the Foundation du centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke and will be used by the Waters-CHUS Expertise Center for Clinical Mass Spectrometry, a collaboration between the hospital and Waters. Waters said that the gift was worth around C$1.1 million (US$893,000).
“This mass spectrometer will enable us to identify previously unknown biomarkers, that is, characteristics that can be objectively measured biochemically as indicators of pathogenic processes,“ Christiane Auray-Blais, scientific director of the Waters-CHUS center, said in a statement. “This will enable us to better understand certain diseases, such as Fabry disease, establish correlations with the severity of the disorder, screen patients earlier, offer more effective treatment, and deliver better management.”