SCIEX QTRAP Technology Assists Yale Researchers to Engineer a Phosphoprotein

Synthetic biology-based approach successfully re-engineers protein-making mechanisms in bacteria; documented in paper published in the journal Science

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. - September 28, 2011 -SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, today announced that Yale University researchers used QTRAP technology to prove the validity of a new approach to synthesize phosphoproteins. This breakthrough approach is expected to revolutionize the study of a wide variety of diseases. Details of the Yale researchers' successful re-engineering of the protein-making mechanisms in bacteria were published in a paper in the August 26^th issue of the journal Science.

To support their project to expand the genetic code of E.coli by synthesizing phosphoproteins that can emulate natural or diseased states, the Yale researchers required analytical capabilities that accurately detect and confirm protein identification and sequencing. They needed the ability to build a custom assay to identify a single phosphopeptide in a complex mixture. By using the SCIEX QTRAP 5500 LC/MS/MS System, these researchers were able to get significantly more information with familiar quantitative techniques to verify what they had done; streamline their workflow by combining qualitative and quantitative analysis; and validate Yale's advancement in synthetic biology.

"This breakthrough provides another order of magnitude of being able to understand biological processes and access new paths to drug discovery using mass spectrometry," said Jesse Rinehart, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Cellular & Molecular Physiology and Systems Biology Institute, Yale University. "Assisting us in our research, the SCIEX QTRAP 5500 System consistently delivers superior performance and high sensitivity to help improve phosphoproteomics. The QTRAP system is in an elite class."

This team of Yale researchers plans to continue using the QTRAP 5500 System to build a large series of MRM (multiple reaction monitoring) methods. Every time these researchers synthesize a phosphopeptide, they will use this SCIEX system exclusively to validate it, making it the research team's one-stop validation system for phosphoprotein synthesis.

Yale's advancement in synthetic biology represents a new way to influence the behavior of proteins, essentially turning these basic building blocks of biological functions on and off. Next, the Yale team plans to create proteins known to be linked to cancer, type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

"We equip scientists with powerful analytical tools that are game-changers in how science can be conducted," said Rainer Blair, President of SCIEX. "To be able to synthesize real biology is an incredible achievement by Dr. Dieter Soll and Dr. Jesse Rinehart, along with their team at Yale. The fact that they standardized on our technology shows the power of QTRAP technology. We strive to evolve mass spectrometry technology to answer more difficult biological questions and continuously demonstrate why we are a trusted partner with scientists."

Media Resources

Link to the published paper in Science

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