Protein analysis technology recognised by industry

Fluidic Analytics, a pioneer in protein analysis and the company behind in-solution diffusional sizing, has received a prestigious new product award at the recent SLAS Europe Conference for its Fluidity One-W instrument - launching later this year. The award is the latest in a string of recognition for the company's microfluidic diffusional sizing (MDS) technology, including a spot in the Top 10 Innovations from The Scientist in 2018.

The Fluidity One-W instrument is able to assess on-target protein interactions in solution, even in crude biological backgrounds such as cell lysates or blood plasma. This allows researchers to attain detailed analyses of proteins in near-native states and in natural environments ­- enabling earlier, more accurate analysis of targets for faster decision making. Fluidic Analytics has made this possible with its diffusional sizing technology, based on the well-understood relationship between size and diffusion rate, yielding absolute size measurements. The measurements provided by the Fluidity One-W confirm the identity of complexes which allow scientists to control for off-target binding and false positive measurements, delivering zero ambiguity for the utmost confidence in results.
 
These abilities combined with high sensitivity are enabling researchers to study challenging proteins that traditionally prove problematic for other systems, including membrane proteins, multi-protein complexes and intrinsically disordered proteins. An excellent example of this was recently presented by Professor Sara Linse of Lund University during the FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award Lecture at the FEBS 2019 conference.
 
The lecture discussed soon-to-be-published research on the mechanism of amyloid ß aggregation and the role of inhibitors. Amyloid ß is a key molecule of interest in Alzheimer's disease and is notoriously difficult to study‹sometimes referred to as the 'peptide from hell', however Professor Linse discussed how Fluidic Analytics' diffusional sizing technology was able to provide the team with confident analysis where other platforms struggled.

Andrew Lynn, Chief Executive Officer at Fluidic Analytics commented, "It's really exciting to see our diffusional sizing technology being recognised with high-profile awards and to be helping scientists in an increasing number of great research projects each day. Our goal is to enable a better understanding of proteins and protein interactions for better decision-making; so scientists can ensure that their work has the greatest impact. The launch of the Fluidity One-W is an important step towards this goal, providing scientists with new capabilities to accurately study a range of challenging proteins and protein interactions that couldn¹t be accurately studied before. We believe that these new capabilities will facilitate significant advancements in human health, such as identifying new therapeutic avenues for Alzheimer's disease - one of the high-impact areas already benefitting from our technology."
 

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