Thermo Fisher Scientific and Matrix Science
SAN JOSE, California, (January 23, 2008) Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, announces the integration of Matrix Science’s Mascot search engine for protein identification with BioWorks software. SEQUEST and Mascot are the two most widely accepted search engines in the field for protein identification and PTM characterization – this offers users the ability to consolidate identification results from the two search engines and cross-validate the results to take advantage of the complementary information provided by each. Combining the capabilities of SEQUEST and Mascot allows researchers to exploit the information gleaned from two separate search engines, as studies have shown that different search engines match different spectra, resulting in little overlap, and subsequently, unique protein identifications for each. Including both search engines in the same software platform provides a new level of confidence in protein identification.
The new integration of SEQUEST and Mascot within the BioWorks platform will enable the kind of flexibility in mass spec data interrogation that customers have requested for some time.
John Cottrell of Matrix Science stated that "We are delighted that Thermo Fisher Scientific will be offering their customers the opportunity to purchase Mascot as part of a complete instrument and software platform". In addition Andreas Huhmer, Proteomics Marketing Director at Thermo Fisher Scientific said "It’s all about flexibility for our LTQ, LTQ FT and LTQ Orbitrap customers – we want to give customers who’ve already chosen superior instrumentation the choice to analyze their data with the search engine they prefer, or to increase their protein coverage by combining the results from both."
Integration of Mascot provides users with comprehensive tools for data processing, protein identification, quantitation, and characterization.
Matrix Science develops and markets bioinformatics products and services for mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Mass spectrometry has become established as the method of choice for protein analysis, providing levels of speed and sensitivity that cannot be matched by other techniques. Mascot, Matrix Science’s lead software package, searches mass spectrometry data against molecular sequence databases to identify the constituent proteins and characterize post-translational modifications. The search procedure is computationally intensive, requiring complex statistical calculations to be performed rapidly while streaming through large protein and nucleic acid sequence databases. The company is based in London, UK, and has offices in Boston, MA and Tokyo, Japan.
For more information about MASCOT visit www.matrixscience.com
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) is the world leader in serving science, enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. With annual sales of more than $9 billion, we employ 30,000 people and serve over 350,000 customers within pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions, and government agencies, as well as environmental and industrial process control settings. Serving customers through two premier brands, Thermo Scientific and Fisher Scientific, we help solve analytical challenges from routine testing to complex research and discovery. Thermo Scientific offers customers a complete range of high-end analytical instruments as well as laboratory equipment, software, services, consumables and reagents to enable integrated laboratory workflow solutions. Fisher Scientific provides a complete portfolio of laboratory equipment, chemicals, supplies and services used in healthcare, scientific research, safety and education. Together, we offer the most convenient purchasing options to customers and continuously advance our technologies to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, enhance value for customers and fuel growth for shareholders and employees alike.
Visit www.thermofisher.com