AB SCIEX and UOW join forces to advance lipid analysis

AB SCIEX and the University of Wollongong (UOW) have announced they will become research partners to develop lipid analysis capabilities.

This collaboration will also include the most complete and thorough identification of double bond position in lipids.

The announcement was made at the 19th annual International Mass Spectrometry Conference (IMSC) and the partnership is part of AB SCIEX's new Academic Partnership Program, which assists researchers to push the boundaries of biomedical science.

Financed by ARC Linkage Project grant, the research map will bring a multi-disciplinary UOW research team and place them in the laboratory with AB SCIEX to build a standardized process for forming double bond position in lipids.

The exploration of lipid functions inside the human body, such as cell membrane structure, hormone signalling and energy storage, will also be included.

This agreement gives AB SCIEX, a world leader in life science analytical technologies, exclusive authority to UOW's "OzID" intellectual property.

OzID is a patented technology that enables researchers to comprehend lipid structure with advanced granularity and at a faster rate than present accessible substitutes.

Global health issues such as type two diabetes, obesity, multiple cancers and cardiovascular disease have been linked to altered lipid metabolism, according to Dr Todd Mitchell, principal investigator from the School of Health Sciences at UOW.

"Recent advances in mass spectrometry have spawned the field of lipidomics which, together with proteomics, metabolomics and genomics, focuses on the systematic study of complex interactions in biological systems," he said.

Additional research in the molecular allocation of lipids in multifaceted biological samples might give a larger understanding of lipid metabolism, the role it plays in disease and health, and probable ways to manage or avert diseases, explained Professor Stephen Blanksby, principal investigator from UOW's School of Chemistry.

Results of Professor Blanksby's work with OzID will be presented at the IMSC conference this week.

Posted by Fiona Griffiths