Access to expertise
12 May 2009 by Evoluted New Media
Here we get the low-down on a new £4 million proteomics facility in Newcastle launched by Cels - the organisation driving the growth of the North East’s healthcare economy
Here we get the low-down on a new £4 million proteomics facility in Newcastle launched by Cels - the organisation driving the growth of the North East’s healthcare economy
NEPAF (the North East Proteome Analysis Facility) will work with a wide range of research and development groups and healthcare companies in the private and public sector in the UK and internationally and will provide them with access to leading expertise and equipment for the study of proteins.
There are over 172,000 people employed in the healthcare industry in the North East, producing an annual turnover of over £8 billion. Through the NEPAF project Cels is investing in emerging technology and placing the region on the world stage for healthcare research excellence.
The facility will cover all aspects of proteomics, giving clients access to expertise in the use of proteomics for drug discovery, development and manufacture and in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease. Its services include:
• Study and experimental design
• Proteome analysis
• Collaborative research projects with academic institutions and commercial companies
• Analysis and reporting of data
• Independent validation support for methods and data from external laboratories
• Training in proteomics theory, methods and applications
With its main laboratory located on the campus of Newcastle University and a second laboratory located on the campus of Durham University, NEPAF is supported by the regional development agency One North East and the European Regional Development Fund. In 2007 Cels secured £4 million to develop the facility, which is
the only one of its kind in the North East of England.
NEPAF offers technology to enable first class research methods including protein extraction, using one of the first pressure cycling homogenisers in the UK, protein separation using 2-Dimensional Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and multi-dimensional liquid chromatography (MD-LC). Separated proteins can then be investigated using a wide range of cutting edge analytical techniques, including six different mass spectrometers and a protein arraying system. These instruments provide capabilities for biomarker discovery, signal transduction pathway analysis, protein expression analysis, protein identification, quantification and characterisation.
NEPAF’s particular strengths lie in the application of LC-MC and LC-MS/MS
 |
| (from l – r) Cels Chairman Ian Shott, NEPAF Programme Manager Dr Glen Kemp and One North East Head of Strategic Economic Change Chris Pywell at the launch of the NEPAF facility in the North East |
Analysis of the resulting three-dimensional datasets using peak recognition and alignment software (Progenesis LCMS, OpenMS or Superhirn) generates the data that can subsequently be analysed using the statistical tools provided within these packages in combination with purpose-written supervised polyvariate statistical approaches.
NEPAF has a dedicated team of six scientists with over 60 years of experience in the fields of protein chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry, clinical chemistry and proteomics. These are supported by the administrative and business support services within Cels.
This team has already been engaged with a number of regional and national pharmaceutical companies including re:innvervate, Avecia and IDS, successfully working on projects which demonstrate the capabilities of the facility. The project is now being launched into the wider bioscience network of pharmaceutical companies, contract research and biotech organisations.
The NEPAF team has a sound commercial understanding and recognises the importance of robust quality control procedures. NEPAF aim to ensure that organisations generate reliable and relevant data to enable product development and commercialisation. Every NEPAF project is assigned a dedicated project manager who acts as the single point of contact and ensures that progress is made in accordance with mutually agreed milestones.
Outside the traditional biotech and pharmaceutical markets NEPAF also makes novel applications of proteomics available to industries such as the food and beverage sector and quality testing laboratories.
NEPAF provides proteomics services to the academic research sector, assisting both groups and individuals in all stages of a study from planning and preparation of grant applications through to coauthorship of research papers. The facility supports Higher Education establishments on a regional, national and international level on projects in the fields of human, animal, microbial and plant biochemistry.
Newcastle University, Durham University, the Institute of Health and Ageing and the Institute of Genetics are just some of the research groups that have collaborated with NEPAF. By engaging with NEPAF at an early stage of the planning process, academic researchers can benefit from the team’s advice in identifying the most appropriate analytical approaches to use in a research project. The NEPAF team will then assist in the development of an appropriate experimental design to ensure reliable and robust data.
Dr Glen Kemp of Cels is Programme Manager of NEPAF. He commented: “The UK’s biotech sector is growing and in order for this growth to continue, we need to provide state-of-the-art facilities that allow even the smallest of companies to carry out the research they need. NEPAF’s goal is to support companies and research groups of all sizes carrying out significant and, in some cases, ground-breaking research and development using proteomics that will secure the reputation of the North East as the place to do biotech business.”
Achim Treumann, scientific manager of NEPAF says: “Our aim at NEPAF is to use state of the art technology to provide solutions for real world biochemical problems. Our ability to help customers with the design of the right experiment, together with our advanced data generation and data analysis tools will open up proteomics to a wide audience in academic and commercial research. The level of validation of experimental data generated in the NEPAF lab ensures that you obtain reliable results and our scientists' communication skills ensure that you will understand them. ”
| About Cels Cels (The Centre of Excellence for Life Sciences Ltd) is partly funded by the regional development agency One North East to drive the growth of the healthcare and life sciences economy of North East England. Cels was set up to develop scientific enterprise through the development and commercialisation of new technology, innovations and the exploitation of new and emerging market opportunities. Cels’ aim is to support and bring together the strengths of the region’s research, clinical and industrial expertise and create a compelling environment for business development and growth. |
