Monday, August 18, 2008

Thermo Fisher finds cancer cells with Toronto’s UHN

By Mass High Tech Staff

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and University Health Network, of Toronto, are working together to target proteins in cancer cells, Thermo Fisher officials said.

Through the collaboration, UHN’s project team, led by Eleftherios Diamandis, will use Thermo Fisher’s mass spectrometers, working with the Thermo Fisher Scientific Biomarker Research Initiatives in Mass Spectrometry (BRIMS) Center in Cambridge.

According to Thermo Fisher, the research should mark the first search for biomarker proteins through cancer cells using Thermo Scientific LTQ Orbitrap and Thermo Scientific Quantum Ultra. Diamandis reported a goal of identifying the presence of cancer through a simple blood test in the future.

The BRIMS Center will serve as second-step validation, using the Thermo Scientific Quantum Ultra mass spectrometer, for any cancer biomarkers the UHN team finds.

The Thermo Fisher BRIMS Center opened in 2004 with a staff of researchers trained in mass spectrometry.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO), a maker of laboratory instruments and research materials, has made a number of acquisitions in the last month including FiberLite Centrifuge Inc., a Santa Clara, Calf., provider of carbon fiber centrifuge rotors; Affinity BioReagents Inc., a Golden, Colo.-based provider of life sciences research materials; and Open Biosystems Inc., a provider of RNAi, gene expression and protein detection products for life science research and drug discovery and development.

Thermo Fisher, which employs 33,000 people worldwide, reported 2007 net income of $761.1 million on revenue of $9.7 billion.