Tools and database will enable researchers for the first time to easily identify the sugars on glycoproteins from data generated by mass spectrometers
Proteome Systems has announced the release of its new bioinformatic analysis tools for glycomics.
These tools will add value to the company's leading annotated database and search engine of glycoprotein derived glycan structures.
The tools and database (to be marketed together as GlycoSuite) will enable researchers for the first time to easily identify the sugars on glycoproteins from data generated by mass spectrometers. Glycoproteins play a key role in a range of diseases, from viral infections to cancer.
The GlycoSuite tools allow researchers to gain an enhanced understanding of the complexity of glycomics, resulting in a better knowledge of disease and the development of a new generation of drug therapies.
In addition, the GlycoSuite tools will enable improved quality control monitoring of glycoprotein pharmaceutical products, such as erythropoietin (EPO).
"Research into the analysis of sugars and the understanding of the structural complexity of glycomics has until now, rested in a small number of expert laboratories.
Proteome Systems has identified glycomics as the next frontier of proteomics and has brought together experts in the fields of glycoanalysis and computer science to produce an integrated and automated solution for glycomic analysis," said Dr Nicolle Packer, head of protein modifications at Proteome Systems.
The GlycoSuite database and bioinformatic tools will be a cornerstone of Proteome Systems's integrated LC/MS glycomics analysis platform, GlycomIQ, which will be made available later this year. GlycoSuite is available directly from Proteome Systems and is distributed by CTCLS in Japan.
Glycomics involves the discovery of the role that carbohydrates have in biological systems.
As well as free carbohydrates, sugars are attached to many biological molecules, such as proteins (glycoproteomics), and are involved in numerous interactions which are critical to cellular function.
Changes in glycosylation are involved in such core biological processes as reproduction and immunity, and in many diseases such as influenza, arthritis and cancer.
Because of the branched structures common to oligosaccharides, subtle structural alterations can often have a dramatic effect.
