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New equipment at UWA will help our scientists to tackle some of society's big challenges in health, food production and the environment. A high-resolution mass spectrometer, used to provide accurate metabolomic analysis of molecules in complex samples, has been donated to the UWA Centre for Metabolomics, which is jointly hosted by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Agilent Technologies, a US-based company, has donated this instrument, valued at nearly half a million dollars, as well as $44,000 in funding, as part of a five-year collaboration, through its Global Academic Program.

Researchers are excited at the big increase in capability in areas of research including drug discovery and metabolism, innovative pathway mapping in diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis, environmental pollution characterisation, food analysis and disease biomarker discovery. The new spectrometer can accurately measure molecules in biochemical pathways, such as those involved in cancer and diabetes.

Metabolomics is the analysis of metabolites (the products of a metabolic reaction) in biological samples and this type of analysis is provided for researchers by the UWA Centre for Metabolomics. The centre supports biological research from many disciplines including plant, animal and medical sciences.

Winthrop Professor Steven Smith, Director of the Centre for Metabolomics, has welcomed the arrival of this critical new infrastructure to UWA . "It will provide cutting-edge metabolomics technology for use by many researchers in diverse areas throughout UWA and the State," he said.

Professor George Yeoh, a liver cancer researcher at the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a group leader of the Cancer Medicine Program at WAIMR , is looking forward to using the new LC -QTO F mass spectrometer.

He has been studying liver cancer for the past 40 years and is internationally recognised for his work on liver progenitor cells and their relation to hepatocellular carcinoma.

"Pathway mapping in cancer cells will allow accurate assessment of the metabolic pathways that are involved in cancer development and mechanisms by which cancer cells grow and maintain themselves," he said. "This technology affords a means of identifying pathway targets that can be used against cancer cells, as well as for monitoring outcomes of strategies to control cancer cells. We expect that many pathways that have been implicated in tumour development will be more accurately and comprehensively assessed for the first time."

Rod Minett, general manager, Life Sciences, South Asia Pacific and Korea, at Agilent, said the company had formed a strong partnership with the national Metabolomics Australia network and with researchers at UWA .

"We see real benefit in supporting the UWA Centre for Metabolomics to provide the best quality metabolomics analysis and to assist researchers in solving many of society's biggest challenges," he said. "The donation of the LC-QTOF to UWA will give this centre advanced capability and allow the development of new applications to measure small molecules in many areas including biomedical science, environmental science, plant and oceans research. Agilent will provide additional assistance to the centre to support researchers through its experienced applications specialists located in Australia and overseas."

UWA and Agilent will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding, committing to a five-year collaboration. For information about the Centre for Metabolomics contact Research Assistant Professor Michael Clarke .

Published in UWA News , 25 June 2012