Issue 4 Summer 2002 - Applied Biosystems

4
O
Corporate review
Introducing the Next Generation of Production
Level DNA Analysis Systems
n April 23, 2002 Applied Biosystems announced
the introduction of the Applied Biosystems 3730
and 3730xl DNA Analyzers. These next generation
production scale systems are expected to improve
data quality and increase productivity by a factor
of two or more compared to current technology
platforms. They bring powerful new tools for rapid,
accurate, and cost-effective DNA analysis to
discovery researchers worldwide studying human
and other genomes.
The addition of the 3730 and 3730xl DNA Analyzers
to the Applied Biosystems existing portfolio of
industry-leading DNA analyzers provides researchers
with a wider range of platforms to address their
throughput and application needs. The 3730
analyzer, a 48-capillary electrophoresis system,
combines the core technology of the highly successful
ABI PRISM ® 3100 Genetic Analyzer with new advances
in automation and optics, to meet the needs of higher
throughput individual researchers and core facilities.
The 3730 platform can also be upgraded to the
3730xl DNA Analyzer, the 96-capillary successor to
the ABI PRISM ® 3700 DNA Analyzer.
While researchers and production facilities are
expected to primarily use the 3730xl DNA Analyzer
for production sequencing – both de novo and
resequencing – the 3730 DNA Analyzer is expected
to be used for a wider range of sequencing and
fragment analysis applications including de novo and
comparative sequencing and genotyping. The new
systems run both ABI PRISM ® BigDye ® Terminator
chemistries for sequencing and five-dye chemistries
for fragment analysis, as do all Applied Biosystems
DNA analyzers.
Throughput, Automation, Efficiency Improvements
The 3730 and 3730xl DNA Analyzers can
reduce sequencing project costs and increase
efficiency by providing longer read lengths,
enhanced instrument sensitivity and efficiency
and the highest 24-hour unattended capacity of any
DNA analyzer. Sequence read lengths of greater
than 1,000 base pairs and improved basecalling
could reduce the number of samples needed
to complete de novo genome sequencing and
resequencing projects by 20-40% respectively.
Applied Biosystems: Pioneers in Genetic Analysis Systems
Both new systems are part of the pioneering line of
capillary electrophoresis instruments for DNA
analysis from Applied Biosystems. The ABI PRISM ®
310 Genetic Analyzer, the first commercially
available capillary sequencer, was introduced in
1995. That was followed in 1998 by the introduction
of the 96-capillary ABI PRISM ® 3700 DNA Analyzer.
Government and commercial researchers in the
United States, Europe and Asia used the 3700
system to sequence the human genome.
Researchers worldwide currently use the 3700
system for the industrial-scale analysis of genomic
information. The 16-capillary ABI PRISM ® 3100
Genetic Analyzer, introduced in 2000 was designed
to provide the flexibility of the 310 system with
added throughput for medium-to-high throughput
laboratories. The ABI PRISM ® 3100-Avant Genetic
Analyzer, introduced in April 2002, is a four-capillary
electrophoresis system that can be upgraded to the
16-capillary 3100 system (see page 14).
Applera Announces New Knowledge Business for
Celera Discovery System (CDS)
Applera Corporation announced earlier this year that
its Applied Biosystems Group will become the
exclusive distributor of the Celera Discovery System
(CDS) operated by its Celera Genomics Group and
that Applied Biosystems will integrate CDS and other
genomic and biological information into a new
Knowledge Business.
For the future, Applied Biosystems has plans for
its Knowledge Business to include genomic assays
and related content (see page 29), as well as other
information-rich products, services, and analytical
tools to meet the needs of its life sciences
customers. The Knowledge Business products and
services will be marketed, in part, on an expanded
information portal.
For more information on
3730/3730xl DNA Analyzers enter: No. 401
Q TRAP LC/MS/MS System
More Metabolites, More Proteins, More Confidence in Your Results
Prof. Gérard Hopfgartner, University of Geneva, Switzerland
O
ne of the first steps in the investigation of the
biotransformation of a new potential drug is the
characterisation of its metabolites in in vitro systems.
To cope with new demands of the pharmaceutical industry,
such as reducing the discovery and development time of new
drugs, powerful tools are needed to complete the various tasks.
This is particularly true for the bioanalytical support for
drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics studies. Many in vitro
samples can be generated using hepatocytes and microsomes
from different species and liquid chromatography combined
with mass spectrometry (LC/MS) already plays a very important
role in this field. Once these metabolites have been
characterised in vitro it is important to monitor their presence
in vivo and to follow their pharmacokinetic profile. The goal is
to obtain as much information as possible regarding the
structure of the metabolites present in plasma and their
quantity in a very short period of time. Often in vivo samples
contain very low concentrations of the drug and its metabolites
and only limited sample volume is available. Sensitivity in the
cover story
low nanogram range is required and the challenge can be
compared to the search for ‘needles in a haystack’
Currently there is no unique mass spectrometer which has
all the desired features required for this type of work and
most laboratories use the combination of various types of
mass spectrometers (MS) including triple quadrupole, ion trap,
quadrupole time-of-flight (QqTOF) MS with relative long
analysis times. Good chromatographic separation remains an
important element. Selective scan modes such as neutral
loss scan and precursor scan experiments which can be
performed on triple quadrupole instruments, are very important
to determine the biotransformation products in complex
matrices. Phase I metabolites such as oxidative products or
phase II metabolites (glucuronides or sulphates) can be rapidly
identified using this technology.
On triple quadrupole instruments the sensitivity in product ion
scan mode is often not sufficient to obtain good spectra quality.
QqTOF technology can overcome this lack of sensitivity with
additional accurate mass information.
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