Agilent Technologies NIBRT Receives Funding For Glycomics Research

Agilent Technologies and Agilent Foundation said that professor Pauline Rudd has received funding for her glycomics research which also includes funding and instruments to the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT).

The research is undertaken to develop new approaches to analyse protein glycosylation which is expected to assist in the characterisation of recombinant protein drugs, and to study potential glycan biomarkers associated with disease using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Professor Rudd said that the group members have developed a new technology for high-throughput, detailed, quantitative glycan analysis at NIBRT’s Glycobiology Group Laboratory.

Rudi Grimm, director of science and technology for Agilent’s Life Science, is expected to work closely with Professor Rudd to provide technical expertise and serving as the primary contact with Agilent.

The NIBRT Glycobiology Lab is at the forefront of fully automating technologies for glycan release and labelling, HPLC analysis, and exoglycosidase sequencing. Dedicated software and experimental databases enable computer assisted data analysis. The platform is allied to MS technologies to obtain further structural characterisation and to provide a service that supports the drug development pipeline of leading pharmaceutical companies.

Maurice Treacy, CEO of NIRBT, said: “Our partnership with Agilent is expected to focus on multidimensional nanoscale LC-MS/MS separations for the comprehensive analysis of released oligosaccharides.

“The research is expected to leverage the expertise of Agilent in separation sciences and NIBRT’s expertise in glycobiology to allow the development of new technologies and complete solutions for glycan analysis for use by the bio-pharmaceutical sector and in academia.”

Gustavo Salem, vice president and general manager of the biological systems division at Agilent, said: “We are very eager to begin working with glycomics scientists at NIRBT to continue to drive research and discovery in this emerging field.”