The project partners, Quantall BV, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre of Groningen (UMCG) and IQ Products BV, together have formed a consortium to improve shotgun proteomics in clinical settings and develop of new usable diagnostic tools.

Recent developments in shotgun proteomics have taken a flight with respect to the identification of more proteins within analysis of one sample, unlocking access to the individual proteome of patients. This opens the door to discover new not yet known biomarkers that play a role in the disease process, which can lead to the development of new therapies and diagnostics.

Quantall BV and the bioanalytical department of the University of Groningen share a great deal of expertise in bioanalysis, mass-spectrometry and bio-informatics to address the variation found using this technique. By assessing each part of the entire proteomics workflow, from sample collection to statistical analysis of the data created, this variation can be controlled. Improving all the different elements of the workflow will result in a significant reduction of the variation of proteomics analysis. The obtained data with the improved sample preparation and bioanalytical techniques leads to more reliable results. The data will be used for the further assessment with additional parameters to improve the likelihood of the discovery of new biomarkers. After validation of these new approaches, the method will be used in clinical material in collaboration with the UMCG. Samples from different groups of patients will be analysed and the potential new found biomarkers will be validated using other techniques. After validation, new diagnostic tools will be developed in collaboration with IQ Products.

The project partners, Quantall, University of Groningen, UMCG and IQ Products, together form a strong consortium within which all knowledge and expertise is available to bring this valorisation project to a successful conclusion. The collaboration between Quantall and the massa-spectometer corelab of the University and UMCG is set in fruitful environment for biomarker discovery. Project partner IQ Products is an experienced developer, manufacturer and supplier of diagnostic kits. New found biomarkers can be quickly developed into easy to use diagnostic kits.

This project is co-funded by the Europe Union as part of the Just transition fund: JTFN-00102- Taking Charge