ABI／MDS發布新型5800MALDITOF／TOF質譜儀

　　2009年4月9日

　　Life Technologies' Applied Biosystems公司和它的質譜合作伙伴MDS公司，今天發布AB Sciex TOF/TOF 5800質譜儀，這是近6個月來該公司第二次發布重要的產品。這次發布是跟隨他們發布AB Sciex 5500三重四極桿質譜儀和AB Sciex QTrap 5500質譜儀之后，又一款新產品。

　　在發布時，ABI和MDS官方都稱其為“最快和最靈敏的基于MALDI的質譜儀”。該儀器上使用的新技術包括：1 kHz的OptiBeam同軸激光，“可進行超快的離子化，加速蛋白質的分析。” MDS的分析部總裁Andy Boorn在一次電話會議上說。

　　新型的Dynamic Exit技術進一步提高了速度，“減少了用于蛋白質鑒定所需激光的數量”，Andy Boorn補充說。根據ABI/MDS的說法，5800比其它MALDI系統，提高了蛋白質鑒定10 倍以上的速度，并提高30個百分點的蛋白質鑒定數量。

　　其它的技術進步包括：系統使用easy access向導程序，提供了單頁面的界面，幫助用戶建立數據采集參數并加快進程;可編程、自清洗的MALDI離子源更易于維護，并延長了系統運行時間。Boorn說。

　　Life Technologies質譜部的總監Laura Lauman說，有了5800，科學家們將能在1天內獲得以前在其它系統上幾周才能獲得的數據。“有了這套系統，我們在生物標志物鑒定方面有了重大的飛躍。”。

　　這套系統，在美國的售價是48.5萬美元。

　　QTrap 5500是進行生物標志物驗證和確證的儀器，而5800是進行生物標志物發現的，而且特別針對于鳥槍法(shotgun)蛋白質組學流程。ABI藥物和蛋白質組部門的高級主管David Hicks說，雖然目標物鑒定的流程市場很大，但MALDI市場仍然保持著增長。

　　除此之外，MALDI質譜的核心能力當然在于它是高產出率的皮實的機器(workhorse)，特別是對于高通量蛋白質組應用。另一種MALDI應用的增長來源于組織成像，這是由范比特大學的Richard Caprioli教授最早發明的。

　　Hick說：“5800不是4800 Plus MALDI TOF/TOF的一個替代型。早期的儀器(4800 plus)保持了我們認為是市場上賣得最好的MALDI TOF/TOF系統，并且它將被繼續銷售。而5800是該系列儀器的一個補充，它使研究者們可以在實驗室老黃牛型的4800和增加了新功能的5800新平臺之間進行選擇。”

　　斯坦福大學醫學院的癌癥早期診斷檢測中心的蛋白質組學部門的主管Mark Stolowitz說，他還沒有用過這套儀器，但他已經為中心購買了5800，下幾個月就會到貨。他告訴記者說，他曾經買了Bruker 公司的ultraflex III 儀器，但已經把它賣掉了，為了買更好靈敏度和分辨率的5800。

　　雖然ABI公司的人員說，相對于做確證，5800這個平臺更適合于作生物標志物的發現;Stolowitz教授仍說他將用該平臺做更多的確證實驗。

　　他說：“對于我們來說，我們將使用5800做目標物檢測，我們正在使用免疫捕獲的方式來選擇一系列生物標志物，然后酶解它們，再用TOF/TOF來檢測其中的肽并確證它們。我們能夠在幾秒鐘內檢測到那些個別的樣本。

 

　　反饋

　　5800的發布把ABI公司重新放到了質譜屆的領導地位上，它的競爭者們雖然沒有發布它們的質譜銷售業績，以上說法可能部分來源于一種猜測。但另一種說法是，ABI至少是坐在全球質譜屆的前兩把交椅上的一個。

　　在過去的兩年，ABI的業務下滑，競爭者們不斷推出新技術、在市場上采取進攻策略，迫使ABI進行了防御。

　　AB Sciex TOF/TOF 5800，正像該公司所說，使研究者可以鑒定出高出以往30個百分比的蛋白，并加速10倍以上的生物標志物發現進程，隨著該平臺的推出，意味著ABI重回質譜屆的頭把交椅。

 

　　Life Technologies' Applied Biosystems and its mass spectrometry joint-venture partner MDS today launched the AB Sciex TOF/TOF 5800 mass spectrometer, the second major launch by the firms in the past six

　　months as they try to turn around a slumping mass-spec operation.

　　The introduction follows the simultaneous launches in October of the AB Sciex Triple Quad 5500 and AB Sciex QTrap 5500, which broke a years-long drought during which the lack of a major introduction in the space

　　dragged down the mass-spec business for both companies and put them in a position of playing catch-up with competitors.

　　In launching the 5800, officials from both ABI and MDS called it the "fastest and most sensitive MALDI-based mass spectrometer ever built." New technological improvements to the instrument include a 1 kilohertz

　　OptiBeam on-access laser, "which provides ultra-fast ionization accelerating the analysis of proteins," said Andy Boorn, president of MDS Analytical Technologies, during a conference call.

　　Speed is further enhanced by a new dynamic exit algorithm that "minimizes the number of laser shots needed" for protein identification, he added. According to ABI/MDS, the 5800 increases the speed of protein

　　identification 10 times over other MALDI systems while increasing the number of proteins identified by 30 percent.

　　Other technological advances offered by the system include an easy access wizard providing a single-page interface that guides users in how to set up acquisition parameters and streamlines the process, and a

　　programmable, self-cleaning MALDI source for easy maintenance and extended uptime, Boorn said.

　　Laura Lauman, president of Life Technologies' mass-spectrometry division, said that with the new capabilities of the 5800, scientists would be now able to achieve in one day what would take weeks on other systems.

　　"With this launch we've taken a giant leap forward in how biomarker studies can now be conducted," she said.

　　The instrument, which is shipping now, lists for $485,000 in the US.

　　Unlike the QTrap 5500, directed at biomarker validation and verification, the 5800 is meant for biomarker discovery, in particular, using shotgun proteomics methods, which David Hicks, senior director of pharmaceutical

　　and proteomics mass spectrometry at Applied Biosystems, said remains a growth market for MALDI, despite a shift in the field toward more targeted workflows.

　　In addition, core facilities continue to use MALDI mass specs as workhorse instruments, especially for walk-up applications in protein research. And interest is growing in MALDI tissue imaging, a method pioneered by

　　Richard Caprioli at Vanderbilt University.

　　The 5800 is not a replacement for the 4800 Plus MALDI TOF/TOF, Hicks said. The earlier instrument remains "what we believe to be the best-selling MALDI TOF/TOF system on the market and it continues to sell at a

　　healthy clip." Rather, it complements the instrument portfolio, giving researchers a choice between the workhorse 4800 and the new platform with its expanded attributes, he said.

　　Mark Stolowitz, director of the proteomics core facility at the Canary Center for Cancer Early Detection at Stanford University's School of Medicine, has not yet used the instrument but has purchased one for the facility,

　　which is set to open in the next few months, based on the data that was presented to him.

　　He told ProteoMonitor that he had been ready to purchase a Bruker ultraflex III instrument but was sold by the better sensitivity and resolution on the 5800.

　　While ABI said that the platform is suited for biomarker discovery rather than verification, Stolowitz said his facility will, in fact, be using it to verify discovery experiments.

　　"In our case, what we're going to be doing with the 5800 is targeted detection where we're essentially going to be using immunocapture to select a series of biomarkers, and then digest them all and then look at those

　　peptides and confirm them by TOF/TOF," he said. "We can read those individual samples in a couple of seconds."

　　On the Rebound

　　The launch is the most recent move by ABI to either restore or maintain — depending on your perspective — its leadership position in the mass spec space. Because its competitors do not disclose their mass-spec

　　sales figures, getting a firm handle on where ABI places in the space is partly a guessing game, but the consensus view is that the company is one of the top-2 mass spec vendors in the world.

　　During the past two years, however, both its business and its position in the eyes of researchers have taken a hit as its own technological drought and aggressive technology development and marketing by competitors

　　have put ABI on the defensive.

　　The AB Sciex TOF/TOF 5800, which the companies said enables researchers to identify 30 percent more proteins and speed up the biomarker discovery process 10-fold, follows platform launches in the fall meant to put them back at the top of the mass-spec food chain.