SCIEX Announces Academic Partnership Program to Support Biological Research

Focus on proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics to accelerate promising work in science and biomedical studies

SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, today announced the SCIEX Academic Partnership Program to increase the number of scientists who benefit from the company's assistance and resources for advancing research in proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics. The new wave of biological studies known as "network biology" and the -omics fields require advanced scientific techniques and powerful technologies, which can be difficult to obtain. SCIEX is partnering with academic researchers, including up-and-coming scientists, to lower these barriers for pursuing advancements and breakthroughs in medicine and the advanced study of biology.

The new program formalizes and expands the company's proven approach to partnering with academia, building on two decades of SCIEX's success closely collaborating with academic researchers who have achieved major breakthroughs, such as the MRMAtlas, ICAT^® Reagents and MS/MS^ALL with SWATH^® Acquisition with Ruedi Aebersold; targeted peptide quantitation with Leigh Anderson; and fundamental ion-ion chemistry research with Scott McLuckey that may lead to future groundbreaking products.

Among the hundreds of researchers around the world who have benefitted from a collaborative relationship with SCIEX is Anne-Claude Gingras at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. She has worked with SCIEX for several years on advancing proteomics research, receiving support from SCIEX scientists to resolve issues and share useful information that has resulted in millions of dollars in funding from research grants amid rising competition.

"I think that partnering with an industry leader such as SCIEX is invaluable for an academic researcher," said Gingras. "Cooperation between academia and industry has been important in significant scientific advancements, and SCIEX has quite a bit of credibility from being part of some major breakthroughs. There's no question that researchers, especially young investigators, can benefit from the commitment to academic research that SCIEX has made."

The Academic Partnership Program is designed to simplify the grant-writing process for researchers and provide access to technical expertise and support in mass spectrometry and chromatography, which are both needed for network biology. Through this program SCIEX will also provide sponsorships for promising research that illustrates exemplary use of LC/MS/MS.

The role of academic researchers in pushing the limits of biomedical research is critical for continued advancement toward the promise of personalized medicine in a post-genome era. The work required can be daunting without the support of industry, and SCIEX is now making such support more available in a program open to universities and non-profit research institutes with ties to academia.

"We believe that the next great breakthroughs in biomedical research will come from network biology, so we are partnering with academic researchers around the world to help support their important research," said Ron Bonner, Principal Scientist,  SCIEX. "As a leader in liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry technologies that are used in proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics research, SCIEX is in a strong position to work as a trusted partner alongside these investigators to help them unlock the secrets of diseases and unexplored areas of biology."

The SCIEX Academic Partnership Program is comprised of three main components:

• A collection of ready-to-use reference material, organized by instrument type and application area, that researchers may cite in their research proposals.
• Direct access to regional technical specialists who can provide a wide range of assistance to scientists in the process of writing grant proposals.
• The opportunity to apply for a limited number of sponsorships when research goals are aligned with AB SCIEX's areas of focus. (Sponsorships will initially be granted in the U.S. and Canada.)