Shimadzu, Ceres Nanosciences and Nonlinear Dynamics Introduce Nanotrap™ Biomarker Discovery Platform

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments has partnered with Ceres Nanosciences and Nonlinear Dynamics to bring the future of biomarker discovery to laboratory researchers. The Nanotrap™ Biomarker Discovery Platform gives researchers the ability to enrich, preserve and screen low-level biomarkers directly from complex biological samples.

Nanotraps are core shell hydrogel particles with porous interiors and size exclusion shells. By delivering affinity selection and size exclusion in one step, Shimadzu’s Nanotrap Biomarker Discovery Platform easily amplifies low-level biomarkers directly from complex biological fluids. This enables the harvesting of low-abundance biomarkers directly from complex samples, making early disease detection possible.

Biomarkers in current clinical use have low sensitivity and specificity, and limited use for early disease detection. Nanotraps meet this challenge by providing fractionation, concentration and protection of low-level biomarkers directly from complex biological fluids.

Integrating Nanotraps with AXIMA MALDI mass spectrometry for screening and identification provides researchers these benefits:

• Enriched and concentrated low-abundance proteins from complex bio-fluid samples
• Prevents protein degradation during sample processing
• Decrease amount of high-abundance proteins present in samples
• Does not require antibodies for immunodepletion or immunoprecipitation
• Simple format and quick sample processing technique
• Fully-integrated informatics capabilities (Progenesis MALDI, Nonlinear Dynamics)
• Simplified screening and identification for biomarker discovery and validation

When used with the AXIMA MALDI mass spectrometers, Nanotrap-enriched samples are analyzed rapidly and reproducibly in a fully automated format. Additionally, disposable Fleximass-DS targets are available for contamination-free analysis and sample archiving.

Progenesis MALDI, the software component of the Nanotrap Biomarker Discovery Platform, generates high-quality proteomics data to define biomarkers. It uses the unique Progenesis approach and technology to improve the reliability and reproducibility of results, and it adds speed, objectivity and statistics to biomarker discovery.