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TouchDown BioInnovation
Focus issue on Biomarker Discovery & Validation
 Welcome to our series of newsletters, providing insight into the latest cutting-edge technologies within life sciences. At TouchDown, we provide visibility to scientific project managers and technology officers for new innovative life science technology & services companies entering the global marketplace. Please visit our website for more details.
In this edition, we feature technologies enabling biomarker discovery and validation.
Over recent years, biomarkers have been shown to have applications in the diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of disease progression, as well as in the monitoring of clinical responses to therapeutics and the development and delivery of personalised medicine.
Pressure Biosciences - Discovery starts with Sample Preparation 
Sample processing is a signficant bottleneck in genomics and proteomics research when dealing with tissues and cells. A novel technology from Pressure Biosciences (PBI) allows the safe, rapid and reproducible extraction of DNA, RNA, small molecules and proteins from a wide variety of cells and tissues.
By rapidly cycling between ambient and ultra high levels of pressure (up to 35,000 psi) at controlled temperatures, PBI's platform is able to facilitate the lysis of tissue and cells. Using PBI's sample preparation reagents, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids can by extracted simultaneously without the need for detergents which can often interfere with downstream analysis techniques.
By increasing protein recovery and providing improved reproducibility compared to traditional lysis methods, PBI's technology can enhance your chances of finding robust novel biomarkers from difficult-to-process animal, plant, virus and bacterial samples.
Furthermore, PBI's platform can be used to increase the rate of enzymatic reactions, for example, shortening the time required for proteolytic digests of proteins and provides a convenient method for the preparation of organelles and membranes. A range of publications and application notes are available here.
For more information about Pressure Biosciences or to arrange a demonstration, please visit the website or email us.
Metabolon - Mapping Mechanism-based Biomarkers
 Metabolon is a diagnostic products and services company offering the industry's leading biochemical profiling platform.  Global biochemical profiling (metabolomics) is undertaken to understand the biochemical changes in a complex biological system by comparing relative changes in biochemical concentrations between control and treated groups.
Studies involve analyzing hundreds of biochemicals in a sample, detecting amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, cofactors, nucleosides and other biochemicals. From this analysis, it is possible to quickly pinpoint biochemical perturbations related to the experiment—be it a drug dosage, a disease state, dietary change or other experimental variable.
Metabolon’s mView™ service provides metabolomics-driven biochemical profiling for scientists in academic and government institutions. Applications of mView are detailed in a series of application notes available for free download. Topics include Mechanism of Action and Compound Profiling and Toxicology.
For additional details or to be added to the Metabolon quarterly newsletter,
please click here.
Oxford BioTherapeutics Protein Biomarker Assay Services
Oxford BioTherapeutics (formally Oxford Genome Sciences) offers Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) services to customers in order to quantitate or assay proteins in crude biological samples.
This Mass Spectrometry-based technique is a very powerful way to verify and assay proteins in a high-throughput manner and does not require antibodies to the analyte of interest. It is also possible to multiplex MRM assays and monitor multiple analytes simultaneously (up to 50 different proteins can be quantitated per run). Oxford BioTherapeutics is now offering specialised services to either run or develop MRM assays.
The technique is very quick, is sensitive and specific. It is also possible to monitor and quantify different protein isoforms as well as post-translational modifications. Typically, it is possible to develop MRM assays in weeks rather than months/years as with antibody-based assays. The benefits of MRM are further described in the application note available here.
Further information about the range of protein biomarker discovery and validation services offered by Oxford BioTherapeutics can be found on this website, http://www.biomarkerservices.com/.
Axela - Innovations in Interactions 
A real-time immunoassay platform, the Axela dotLab System enables quantitation of low abundance biomarkers in complex mixtures and the probing of protein complexes.
Diffractive optics technology or dot™, brings together two mature, well-understood technologies: grating-based light diffraction and immobilized capture surfaces. This combination produces a sensitive and very simple technique for the detection of molecular binding events without the use of fluorescent labels.
The technology provides excellent sensitivity facilitating the quantitation of low abundance protein biomarkers from serum (as low as 1 pg/ml has been routinely demonstrated), yet the flexibility enables a dynamic range of up to 7 orders of magnitude. In effect, the dotLab System offers the possibility to move rapidly beyond the discovery phase into assay development and routine validation, providing more quantitative data than Western Blotting, and faster, easier assay development than ELISA. Multiplexing is also possible, enabling the detection of multiple proteins biomarkers across a wide range of concentrations from a single sample.
An Axela brochure and a series of application notes are available from the website. To discuss your assay requirements or to arrange a product demonstration, please email us.
NanoString - Introducing the nCounterTM System
As profiled in Nature Biotechnology 
The nCounter Analysis System is a complete, fully automated system for the next generation of digital gene expression analysis. This exciting unique technology is based on direct, multiplexed measurement of gene expression that utilizes molecular barcodes and single molecule imaging to detect and count hundreds of unique transcripts in a single reaction.
Because the nCounter assay directly targets mRNA molecules through hybridization from a total RNA or lysate prep, there is no need for reverse  transcription or amplification, therefore saving time and money.
This system can be easily incorporated into any gene expression research program including Microarray validation, Pathway analysis, Expression measurements of defined gene sets and Biomarker validation.
The following sample types can be used with the nCounter Analysis System:
• Total RNA (100ng)
• Cell Lysate
• RNA derived from FFPE samples
• RNA from PAXgene lysed blood
View NanoString’s On-Demand webinar to learn more about the nCounter System at www.nanostring.com
Licensing Opportunities - Biomarker Panels
We would be interested to hear from any researchers looking to out-license genomic or proteomic biomarker panels in the disease areas listed below:-
Neurodegenerative disorders
We have access to a number of platforms and are looking to build validated assays that can be used for prognostic and diagnostic purposes. Please email us to arrange a discussion. Thank you for reading!
We hope that you found the products and services featured in our Technology e-News useful. We will be focusing on another area of biomedical research in the next edition, due to be sent in early 2009. If you would like to suggest technologies or therapy areas to be included, or would like further information about TouchDown BioInnovation, please email here. All comments and suggestions are welcome!
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