Amersham Biosciences Introduces New Protein Identification Technology Specifically Designed for Proteomics Applications at ASMS Meeting.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

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PISCATAWAY, N.J.--(BW HealthWire)--June 3, 2002

Amersham Biosciences, the life sciences business of Amersham plc (LSE:, NYSE:, OSE: AHM) today introduced Ettan(TM) MALDI-ToF Pro and Ettan CAF-MALDI Sequencing Kit at the 50th ASMS Conference in Orlando, Florida. Ettan MALDI-ToF Pro is the first MALDI-ToF mass spectrometer to have completely integrated and automated database searching of both peptide mass fingerprint (PMF) and post-source decay (PSD) data for protein identification. Ettan CAF-MALDI Sequencing Kit (CAF stands for Chemically Assisted Fragmentation) is a novel sample labeling kit for proteomics that enables de novo sequence information of tryptic peptides to be produced within minutes using MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry.

Ettan MALDI-ToF Pro is the latest addition to the Ettan family of proteomics systems. A key feature of the system is the proprietary and highly enabling quadratic field reflectron technology (Z2), based on the patented design of Professor Peter Derrick, Warwick University, UK. The quadratic field technology enables the application of PSD for fast and reliable protein identification.

The Ettan CAF-MALDI Sequencing Kit, the first of its kind to use CAF chemistry, has been developed in collaboration with Drs. Thomas Keough and R. Scott Youngquist at The Procter & Gamble Company. Amersham Biosciences has an exclusive license to this patented technology. The combination of the Ettan MALDI ToF Pro with CAF chemistry provides researchers with an easy-to-use tool to significantly increase the rate of protein identifications without the need for using more demanding and complex MS/MS technology.

"Used together with MALDI-ToF MS, the kit provides de novo sequence information as well as rapid detection of post-translational modifications, such as protein phosphorylation. CAF chemistry has also been tested with a number of other mass spectrometry technologies with good results. The simple fragmentation patterns generated are easy to interpret," says Dr. Keough, a Research Fellow in the Corporate Research Division of The Procter & Gamble Company.

"We're delighted to have worked together with Amersham Biosciences to deliver the Ettan CAF-MALDI Sequencing Kit, which can be used together with the Ettan MALDI-ToF Pro mass spectrometer. The combination of CAF chemistry and relatively inexpensive MALDI PSD instruments will eliminate the need for complex and expensive instrumentation such as MS/MS (Q-ToF type) and MALDI ToF-ToF for many protein identification purposes. Most of the results generated on such instruments can now be obtained at less than half of the price and with greater simplicity," continues Dr. Keough.

Lars-Eric Utterman, Vice President Proteomics at Amersham Biosciences comments: "With these product introductions to our product portfolio, we continue to pursue our goal to provide uniquely tailored system solutions to the proteomics community. Together with our product development partners, such as The Procter & Gamble Company, we can deliver products that combine chemistry, hardware, and software to meet our customers' needs for simplified protein identification, which can also lead to faster results in the race to identify new drug targets."

Amersham Biosciences, the life sciences business of Amersham plc (LSE, NYSE, OSE: AHM), is a world leader in developing and providing integrated systems and solutions for disease research, drug development and manufacture. Its systems are used to uncover the function of genes and proteins, for the discovery and development of drugs and for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. The customers for Amersham Biosciences' products and technologies are pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and research and academic institutions, principally in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. More information about Amersham Biosciences is available at www.amershambiosciences.com.