Bruker and the Translational Metabolic Laboratory at Radboud University Medical Center Announce the Establishment of a Joint Center of Excellence for Translational Omics

Nijmegen, Netherlands, April 16, 2019 – At the opening event of the Netherlands X-omics Initiative, Bruker and the Translation Metabolic Laboratory (TML) at Radboud University Medical Center (UMC) today jointly announce the establishment of a Center of Excellence (CoE) for Translational Omics. Under the leadership of Professor Alain van Gool, the joint CoE will focus on clinical translation of innovative metabolic profiling using various Omics approaches. The collaboration will center around the development of 4D omics methods using the timsTOF Pro ultra-high sensitivity, trapped ion mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer that was recently acquired by the TML.

The TML at Radboud UMC is a >100-person diagnostic research laboratory, part of the Department of Laboratory Medicine, which is specializing in translating metabolic research into biomarkers for use in personalized diagnostics. The research led by Prof. van Gool has the purpose of filling in the gap between analytical science and the clinical needs in terms of disease comprehension, diagnosis and follow-up in various therapeutic areas. The laboratory uses several Bruker mass spectrometry technologies, including ESI- and MALDI-TOF. Recently, TML enhanced their scientific capabilities by adding the timsTOF Pro 4D omics system for glycopeptide profiling to accelerate the development of clinical biomarkers, and to explore protein glycobiology in health and disease.

Under the CoE agreement, Bruker and TML intend to collaborate on developing 4D glycoproteomic profiling workflows using trapped ion mobility derived collisional cross section (CCS) values to augment the development of biomarkers based on glycopeptides. Bruker will provide expertise, early software access and customization, in order to develop CCS-focused glycoproteomic workflows on the timsTOF Pro. 

Dr. Rohan Thakur, Bruker’s Executive Vice President for Life Science Mass Spectrometry, commented: “Bruker has been working with the TML for a number of years, and we are delighted with Prof. van Gool’s decision to use the timsTOF Pro to develop new 4D multi-omics methods that can have a direct impact on patient care. We believe that the information derived from CCS information specific for glycopeptides could help fill the gap between biomarker discovery and validation, accelerating development of laboratory-developed clinical assays.”

Professor Alain van Gool stated: “Our past collaboration with Bruker has been valuable in our translational clinical diagnostic research. We see the timsTOF Pro with its high sensitivity, combined with trapped ion mobility separation as a useful addition to our research platform. The capability to separate glycopeptides having different glycoforms by ion mobility with high speed and sensitivity adds another dimension to our glycopeptide biomarker discovery work. We look forward to additional support from Bruker in exploiting these new 4D omics capabilities under the CoE agreement.”

Dr. Hans Wessels, a Senior Proteomics Researcher at TML, added: “The novel timsTOF Pro 4D omics technology, supported through the CoE, strongly support our efforts to advance innovative patient care. We believe that joint efforts by industrial partners and academia accelerate translational science and that these efforts will help to develop new technologies that fit the needs of end users. Our collaboration with Bruker has already been of great value in past years to develop and implement novel technologies by mutual expertise exchange. This has become even more beneficial now with the recent installation of the timsTOF Pro at our lab thanks to financial support from the ZonMw medium investment program and the Radboud UMC.”

Novel 4D Omics Research with the timsTOF PRO and PASEF 

The proprietary timsTOF Pro system uses the PASEF (Parallel Accumulation Serial Fragmentation) method, enabled by Trapped Ion Mobility Spectrometry (TIMS), to provide industry-leading speed for 4D shotgun proteomics. The unique dual TIMS geometry of the timsTOF Pro, combined with the time focusing of the ion packets in the TIMS device, means that the speed advantage provided by PASEF comes along with simultaneous improvements in sensitivity and quantitation. All of these gains in speed, sensitivity and quantitation maintain the advantages of Bruker’s high-performance QTOF mass spectrometers, including high mass resolution (resolving power of 50,000 FWHM even at highest data acquisition rates) in MS and MS/MS mode, ppm accurate mass, and high isotopic fidelity (True Isotopic Pattern, or TIPTM). The robust timsTOF Pro with PASEF gives scientists the 4D omics tools to dig deeper into the complex cellular machinery with the potential to discover low-level, biologically significant peptides or proteins, or validate them in translational proteomics research. 

About Radboud university medical Center

Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc) is an academic hospital, affiliated with Radboud University, and situated in Nijmegen (the Netherlands). We specialize in patient care, scientific research, teaching and training in Nijmegen. Our mission is to have a significant impact on health care. We aim to be pioneers in shaping the health care of the future. We do this in a person-centered and innovative way and in close collaboration with our network. With over 11,000 employees, 3,300 students and 200 PhD’s, Radboudumc is one of the largest and leading medical centers of the Netherlands, providing supraregional tertiary care for residents in the east of the Netherlands. Our research infrastructure consists of 18 Technology Centers and 3 research institutes: the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, the Radboud Institute for Health Science and the Donders Center for Medical Neuroscience. Together, they cover eighteen focused and interactive research themes each aiming to develop tools for individualizing preventive, diagnostic and treatment strategies under the umbrella of “Personalized Healthcare”.
More information: www.radboudumc.nl

About the Netherlands X-omics initiative

The Translational Metabolic Laboratory (TML) is part of the Department of Laboratory Medicine of Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc). TML leads the recently started Netherlands X-omics Initiative, which is a new facility as part of the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructures. It is partly funded by NWO with a total budget of 40 million euro and aims to establish a X-omics research infrastructure across the Netherlands. By joining and providing access to excellent facilities in genomics, proteomics, lipidomics, metabolomics and data integration & analysis, researchers can use the newest X-omics technologies in their projects and drive new insights in molecular biology. www.x-omics.nl. 

About Bruker Corporation

Bruker is enabling scientists to make breakthrough discoveries and develop new applications that improve the quality of human life. Bruker’s high-performance scientific instruments and high-value analytical and diagnostic solutions enable scientists to explore life and materials at molecular, cellular and microscopic levels. In close cooperation with our customers, Bruker is enabling innovation, improved productivity and customer success in life science molecular research, in applied and pharma applications, in microscopy and nanoanalysis, and in industrial applications, as well as in cell biology, preclinical imaging, clinical phenomics and proteomics research and clinical microbiology. For more information: www.bruker.com.