Agilent Rolls Out New Single Quadrupole Series, Q-TOF, Sample Prep Products and Software Platforms for Large and Small Molecule Analysis; Coordinated Products Designed to Transform LC/MS Workflow.

SEATTLE -- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) continued with its largest multi-platform launch ever, announcing the latest additions to its highly integrated range of LC/MS products. Agilent's new portfolio is designed to fill price-performance gaps in small and large molecule analysis, from traditional food, forensic, environmental and other chemical-analysis testing to the latest life science applications.

"Coordinated design of our new 1200 HPLC (high performance liquid chromatograph) with a new line of LC/MS (liquid chromatograph/mass spectrometers) systems, sample prep components, instrument software platforms and bioinformatics solutions has allowed us to address multiple bottlenecks in complex customer workflows," said Taia Ergueta, general manager of Agilent's mass spectrometry business. "The resulting design integration delivers substantially better performance and value than if we were to have introduced these systems one product at a time."

Agilent announced availability of the following products:

--Agilent Model 6510 quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) LC/MS, which sets a new performance standard in its class. It is 10 times more sensitive than comparable instruments, delivers the fastest data-dependent acquisition speed at 40 spectra per second, and provides better than 2 ppm mass accuracy in MS mode. Because the 6510 shares its collision cell with the new Model 6410 triple-quadrupole LC/MS, target ions from the first MS/MS stage of a biomarker-profiling experiment can be run in the second MS/MS stage without introducing variability. This is highly useful for validation studies.

--Agilent 6100 Series Single Quadrupole LC/MS instruments have a 40-percent smaller footprint than their predecessors. The Model 6140 delivers a scanning speed of 10,000 amu/second, fast enough to keep pace with the Agilent 1200 Rapid Resolution High Throughput LC, the industry's fastest LC. Agilent Model 6130, a full-featured research-grade instrument, delivers 10-picogram sensitivity, multi-signal capability and a full mass range to 3,000 amu. The Model 6120 offers 10-picogram sensitivity and positive/negative switching capability. Agilent's Model 6110 is an entry-level model offering 10-picogram sensitivity and a 20-percent lower price than the previous model.

--Two products for the front end of the proteomics/biomarker workflow: The Multiple Affinity Removal System 7 LC column or spin tube fully removes the seven most abundant proteins from human blood or serum, unmasking previously undetectable proteins that are potential biomarkers. The OFFGEL fractionator is a novel way to fractionate both intact proteins and peptides, and recover them in solution for easy introduction to the MS.

--GeneSpring MS, a gene-expression bioinformatics platform enables scientists to visualize differentials in complex data between any number of samples, making it a powerful tool for performing biomarker validation studies.

Advantages of Design Integration in Biomarker Discovery 

Many researchers use a data-dependent "shotgun" strategy where samples are run on MS/MS, and candidates are sorted from the data. This approach misses many biomarker candidates and cannot provide an acceptable level of statistical confidence. A profiling approach, on the other hand, involves vastly reducing sample complexity early in the workflow, using intelligent two-step profiling in front of MS/MS to identify biomarkers.

Agilent identified areas in the workflow where the company's strengths could yield the most improvement. The company began by building instruments that work well together. For example, the 6510 Q-TOF is built to keep pace with the fast 1200-Series Rapid Resolution High Throughput LC. Another example is the common collision cell between the 6510 Q-TOF and the 6410 triple quad to eliminate variability between mass spec analysis stages. A third example is the HPLC-Chip/MS which can be unplugged from one mass spec and plugged into the second one, eliminating another source of variability in profiling experiments. In addition, the new Multiple Affinity Removal System and OFFGEL Fractionator facilitate delivery of clean samples to the LC/MS, earlier in the workflow.

The new Agilent MassHunter Workstation software platform was designed to enhance the utility of the new instruments. The Profiler module labels mass, retention time and abundance of two samples to identify peptides that are differentially up- or down-regulated. A specialized feature extraction algorithm groups ions to reveal low-level proteins, eliminating as much complexity as possible to facilitate detection and quantitation of target compounds. MassHunter controls the TOF in the relative abundance analysis run and also the MS/MS in the second run for seamless data transfer. These results are searched by Spectrum Mill, another module of the MassHunter suite, providing precise identification of biomarkers. Agilent's new 6510 QTOF can conduct the MS profiling and MS/MS identification runs on the same instrument, further simplifying the biomarker workflow.

The same HPLC method and HPLC-chip used in profiling and identification can be employed again on the triple quad for validation studies, eliminating a source of variability. The Agilent 6510 and 6410 LC/MS systems use identical collision cells, eliminating variability of data when comparing parent and daughter data between the new instruments.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) is the world's premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company's 20,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $5.1 billion in fiscal 2005. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

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