Thermo Fisher Scientific Signs Distribution Agreement with MKI for Lipidomics Software

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., has signed an agreement with Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co., Ltd. (MKI) of Tokyo to become the exclusive worldwide marketer and distributor of MKI’s Lipid Search software for interpretation of lipidomic research data.

Lipid Search software, developed by Prof. Ryo Taguchi of The University of Tokyo and MKI, supports Thermo Scientific high-resolution accurate-mass Orbitrap and hybrid Orbitrap systems as well as triple quadrupole mass spectrometers. Lipid Search software processes data from both infusion MS/MS and LC-MS/MS data, and uses MS2 and/or MS3 data to identify lipids from a comprehensive database of more than one million species. The software integrates data from multiple samples or groups, and is intended for both novice and expert users.

“This agreement represents an ideal pairing of powerful lipidomics software with our family of high performance mass spectrometry and chromatography instruments,” said Dr. Yingying Huang, strategic marketing manager, metabolomics, Thermo Fisher Scientific “Together we provide a unique, powerful, and highly efficient workflow solution for the Lipidomics market. We’re committed to helping customers accelerate their research by freeing them to concentrate on their work rather than their tools.”

Lipid Search software can identify lipids from raw mass spectra generated by a wide range of mass spectrometers from major manufacturers. Its database provides very high coverage compared to other commercial lipidomics software. It accommodates a number of acquisition modes, including precursor ion scanning, neutral loss scanning and product ion scanning. Lipid Search also enables quantitation of identified lipids.

”Analysis of lipidomic data requires an enormous amount of energy and time,” said Takeshi Bamba, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Biotechnology, Osaka University.” With Lipid Search, we can successfully automate that process, to dramatically enhance performance By simultaneously analyzing more than one million mass spectrometry data, we can uncover many previously unreported lipids.”

Lipids are a type of metabolite that performs a number of biological functions, including energy storage, cell signaling, and supporting cell membrane structure. The Lipidome, the profile of all the lipids present in a tissue sample, is studied to discover the mechanisms of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, plus some cancers, neurodegenerative disorders and infectious diseases. Interest in lipidomics has been growing in recent years for biomarker discovery and drug development.