Helsinki, Finland, 10 Oct 2023 – Valo Therapeutics Oy (ValoTx), the developer of novel, adaptable immunotherapies for cancer, announces it is the first biotech company in Europe to install and use the Bruker Corporation’s new timsTOF Ultra mass spectrometer and liquid chromatography platform, which provides transformative speed and sensitivity for antigen identification in connection with ValoTx’s PeptiCHIP technology.
Tumor neoantigens are expressed uniquely by cancer cells and their presence can trigger an efficient immune response against the tumor. Currently the methods available to identify these antigens have significant limitations by being long, complicated and resource demanding. Using the timsTOF Ultra in conjunction with ValoTx’s innovative microfluidic PeptiCHIP immunopurification device and prioritization algorithm increases the chance of success of neoantigen identification and allows their detection from ultra-low sample amounts, such as tumor tissue biopsies.
Bruker’s timsTOF Ultra platform, launched in June 2023, employs trapped ion mobility spectrometry in combination with quadrupole time-of-flight technology and other performance improvements to offer unparalleled sensitivity. It has been specifically designed for the needs of immunopeptidomics and unbiased single-cell proteomics, where the ability to detect low-abundance peptides is crucial.
Dr Otto Kari, VP & Head of ValoTx’s Antigen Business Unit, and EIC projects lead, said, “This amazing piece of top-of-the line kit from Bruker, which has now been running in our R&D laboratory since August, allows us to identify thousands of antigens from…….
