AB SCIEX and UOW help advance lipid analysis

The agreement provides AB SCIEX with an exclusive license to UOW’s “OzID” intellectual property, a patented technology that allows scientists to understand lipid structure faster and with better granularity than currently available alternatives.

Funded by an ARC Linkage Project grant, the research plan will see a multi-disciplinary UOW research team working with AB SCIEX to develop a standardised procedure for determining double bond position in lipids.

This will include exploring lipid functions within the human body, such as energy storage, cell membrane structure and hormone signalling.

“Altered lipid metabolism has been linked to such global health concerns as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and various cancers,” explained Principal Investigator, Dr Todd Mitchell from UOW’s School of Health Sciences. 

“Recent advances in mass spectrometry have spawned the field of lipidomics which, together with proteomics, metabolomics and genomics, focuses on the systematic study of complex interactions in biological systems.”

“Ozone induced dissociation, or OzID, first harnesses the power of mass spectrometry to separate one lipid compound out of literally hundreds on the basis of mass, and then uses ozone like a pair of scissors to cut the molecule at a particular position, namely a double bond,” said Principal Investigator, Associate Professor Stephen Blanksby from UOW’s School of Chemistry. 

“This allows an unambiguous assignment of the compound structure and, importantly, differentiates molecules that vary only by the position of their double bonds.”

“Learning more about the molecular distribution of lipids in complex biological samples may provide a greater understanding of lipid metabolism, its role in health and disease, and potential ways to prevent or manage diseases,” added Dr. Blanksby, who will be presenting results of his work with OzID at the IMSC conference this week.  

AB SCIEX is partnering with academic researchers, including up-and-coming scientists, to lower the barriers to advancements and breakthroughs in medicine and the advanced study of biology. 

The new wave of biological studies known as “network biology” and the -omics fields require advanced scientific techniques and powerful technologies.  The Academic Partnership Program is designed to provide access to technical expertise and support in mass spectrometry and chromatography.

The agreement was facilitated with the assistance of UniQuest Pty Limited. UniQuest Managing Director, David Henderson, said the license agreement highlighted the growing interest from international companies in the work of Australian university researchers addressing global health issues.