Proteome facility teams with LumiCyte to develop biochip platform

The Australian Proteome Analysis Facility (APAF) has teamed up with Californian proteomics company LumiCyte (LCI) to further develop LCI's recently launched STS biochip platform.

According to APAF director Prof Mark Baker, the collaboration will allow APAF to combine the biochip technology with mass spectrometry, in particular with the Applied Biosystems AB4700 proteomics TOF/TOF analyser. APAF, which has nodes at three locations in New South Wales and one in South Australia, will evaluate, validate and showcase the performance of the system, as well as use it for proteomics and biomarker discovery.

LCI's STS system uses fluidics and surface properties to capture, concentrate and purify samples obtained by liquid chromatography or gel electrophoresis for analysis in MALDI mass spectrometers. Future developments planned for the platform will be able to handle proteins with post-translational modifications, on-chip immunoassays and capture of proteins labelled with tags such as biotin.

Baker said the collaboration would remove a number of proteomics bottlenecks, and would provide for tremendous advances in discovery proteomics and biomarker protein profile identification. "It can be used to identify peptides right off the chip at 10 to 100 times the sensitivity we could do before," he said. "APAF got involved in the technology as we saw it as a quantum leap forward."

APAF already has a relationship with Applied Biosystems, which is funding the company to develop new technologies using their proteomics instruments -- Baker said APAF was the first location in Australia to take delivery of the AB4700 analyser.

Baker said Applied Biosystems was keen to see how the LCI technology worked with its own platforms. "It's not a formal three-way collaboration, but it's a win-win-win situation for all of us," he said.

LCI and APAF have also agreed to share IP, Baker said. While details of the arrangement are confidential, the work that APAF does on the chip will lead to a revenue stream, and APAF may also get a share in the IP if it makes improvements made to the technology.

"It's really a very good marriage of strengths between two synergistic groups," Baker said.

The two groups also plan to apply for funding from the Australian government to facilitate the release and adoption of the platform for a range of proteomics applications.

LCI showcased the technology at this year's HUPO 3rd Annual World Congress in China, and APAF plans to demonstrate its configuration of the platform at next year's Lorne conferences, to be held at Phillip Island.

Baker said two new staff, including Michael Mariani, an engineer who previously headed his own company, were joining APAF to work on the new technology.