New high-tech proteomics facility opens for the Nordic research community
A new state-of-the-art biological mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomic research facility has opened this summer at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH). Scientists from academia and biotech across Greater Copenhagen will now be able to register to use the facility known as the Proteomic Research Infrastructure (PRI).
Supported by a grant of up to DKK 100 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the PRI is being established to provide the regional research community access to advanced proteomic technology, exceptional technological assistance and streamlined bioinformatics data analysis at an affordable price.
PRI has a primary focus on providing analytical proteomic services to researchers. Proteomics measures the proteins in a biological sample – the workhorses of the cells – using a technology called mass spectrometry (MS).
The generous grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation will remove cost related barriers for the research community, provide synergy and scales and thereby encourages more exciting discoveries in biology and biomedicine
MS has already advanced life science research significantly in very specialized laboratories. MS works by measuring and ‘weighing’ different molecules. From the extracted data, researchers are able to detect which proteins are present in a given biological sample and in which amounts.
This type of research plays a critical role in fields of fundamental biological and biomedical research; however, this high-tech technology can be expensive and has to date only been available to few researchers.
“The generous grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation will remove cost related barriers for the research community, provide synergy and scales and thereby encourages more exciting discoveries in biology and biomedicine” says Prof Ulla Wewer, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen.
The services provided include sequencing of whole proteomes of any kind of biological sample, as well as the analysis of protein modifications, which are the main drivers of signaling processes in biology. Although still in planning phase, in future, the facility will have a direct impact on personalised medicine in the Greater Copenhagen area.
The University of Copenhagen already has a world-leading positon in the field of MS-based proteomics, with four renowned proteomic research groups located at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (NNF-CPR) at the University’s Faculty for Health and Medical Sciences. This includes the group of Prof Matthias Mann, who pioneered this technology over thirty years ago, and has been one of the key figures in establishing the PRI. It therefore made sense that the PRI has been established within close proximity to the NNF-CPR, ensuring that it stays at the forefront of proteomic technology.
The PRI will be headed by Dr Michael Wierer, a biochemical scientist, with a deep background in MS-based technologies and diverse areas of molecular biology and biomedicine.
Both academic and industry researchers from the Greater Copenhagen area and Nordic countries are now able to register their interest to use the facility. More information can be found at www.pri.ku.dk.
Contact
Sarah Grant
Administrative Coordinator
Communications Consultant Mathias Traczyk
+45 53 56 58 35
mathias.traczyk@sund.ku.dk