New Project to Expand Systems Biology Research

Advancing the study of systems biology is the object of a major Swiss interdisciplinary research consortium.

SystemsX.ch (Zurich, Switzerland) is currently the largest research initiative in Switzerland with the mandate to promote systems biology. It is a consortium with nine universities and three research institutions as partners. The program is funded by the Swiss federal budget with matching funds paid by those partners receiving grants. The SystemsX.ch project currently supports about 750 researchers from 250 research groups in 62 approved projects. About half of the 250 research group leaders are biologists by training. The other half comprises chemists, physicists, engineers, computational scientists, medical scientists, mathematicians, and economists.

Two of the SystemsX.ch partners, AB SCIEX (Foster City, CA, USA) and the ETH Zurich Institute of Molecular Systems Biology (Zurich, Switzerland), recently announced a joint project to accelerate analysis and improve results for metabolomics.

Investigators at ETH will be using the AB SCIEX QTRAP 5500 System to develop a new method to reduce the time required for quantitative analysis of metabolites from approximately one hour to less than three minutes, while delivering comprehensive results. The QTRAP 5500 System is a mass spectrometry system that integrates triple quadrupole and linear accelerator trap technologies onto a single platform for faster and more accurate analysis of complex samples.

Dr. Uwe Sauerp, professor of systems biology at ETH Zurich Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, said, "Our partnering with AB SCIEX on new method development for metabolomics will drive the field of systems biology forward by addressing the need for more quantitative, comprehensive data that can be quickly obtained. The new method we are currently developing could be used for any analysis of any biological system. The AB SCIEX technology gives us unique capabilities to get the best possible data in the shortest period of time that we can apply to make a major difference in systems biology and biomedical research.”

Mr. Dave Hicks, a vice president at AB SCIEX, said, "Our project with ETH will help researchers make significant progress in metabolomics research more rapidly than was previously possible. This demonstrates how AB SCIEX mass spectrometry technology continues to advance life science by enabling new workflows that combine targeted and nontargeted analysis of the metabolome for a new approach to understand the role and impact of metabolites in biology.”

Related Links:
SystemsX.ch
AB SCIEX
ETH Zurich Institute of Molecular Systems Biology