Berlin, Germany, September 25th, 2015 – The Technical University of Munich (TUM), JPT Peptide Technologies (JPT), SAP, and Thermo Fisher Scientific announced today their common aim to translate human proteome information into new designs for molecular and digital tools with the potential for use in drug discovery, personalized medicine or life science research.
Since the decoding of the human genome, the application of individualized genome profiling has increased. However, a personalized and deep analysis of genes at the functional protein level is currently inaccessible.
Recently published drafts of the human proteome by TUM, JPT and SAP led the partners to form a strategic consortium in order to explore and exploit this human proteome information systematically.
Within the scope of this project, the team of researchers will comprehensively study human proteomes with the aim of turning the vast amount of molecular information into designs for new reagents, equipment, workflows, assays and software that the team anticipates will enhance the application of proteomics in both science and medicine.
“This consortium, comprised of academia and industry, is in a unique position to make several important contributions to the field of proteomics,” commented Bernhard Kuster, Chair of Proteomics and Bioanalytics at the TUM, and Coordinator of the project. “This project will allow us to represent the human proteome by tandem mass spectra of synthetic peptides, which will alleviate some of the current issues with protein identification and quantification. We plan to develop new and improve upon existing hardware, software, workflows and reagents for proteomics. We will also make our research data publically available in ProteomicsDB, a web accessible in-memory database dedicated to the understanding of the human proteome, in order to foster global use of data, sharing and collaboration.”
Holger Wenschuh, CEO at JPT, said: “Being part of the BioNTech Group, a company that is at the forefront of individualized cancer therapy development, clearly motivated our engagement in this exciting research project.” He continued, “In this collaborative framework, JPT will establish workflows that are projected to contribute over 1 million peptide standards addressing sequence diversity and post-translational modifications of the human proteome. This will not only have a massive impact on the future of proteomic assays; but should also pave the way for others to establish efficient peptide tools for truly personalized immune monitoring applications.”
Thomas Moehring, Director Hardware Platform Management LS/MS at Thermo Fisher Scientific, added: “We are very excited to be a partner in this research consortium, which is taking the crucial next step of translating the human proteome draft – which was published last year using Thermo Scientific Orbitrap technology – into a comprehensive set of proteomic tools. This project team plans to make state-of-the-art proteomics techniques accessible to a wide spectrum of biologists and clinical researchers.“
The three year collaborative project is funded in part by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), JPT Peptide Technologies, SAP, Thermo Fisher Scientific and TUM.
About JPT Peptide Technologies GmbH
JPT Peptide Technologies GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of BioNTech AG, is a DIN ISO 9001:2008 certified research and development partner and innovative service provider for peptide related projects in immunotherapy development, proteomics and drug discovery. JPT’s key technologies SPOTTM – for ultra-high-throughput peptide synthesis and screening, PepStarTM – for high-content peptide microarrays, PepTrackTM - for flexible peptide library assembly, PepMixTM – for antigen specific T-cell stimulation using peptide pools, and SpikeTideTM & SpikeMixTM – for protein biomarker quantification accelerate research and development in areas such as immune monitoring, vaccine development, peptide biomarker discovery, peptide lead identification and optimization, enzyme profiling and proteomics. For more information, please visit www.jpt.com
About Technical University of Munich (TUM)
TUM combines top-class facilities for cutting-edge research with unique learning opportunities for more than 37,000 students. TUM scientists are committed to finding solutions to the major challenges facing society as we move forward: Health & Nutrition • Energy & Natural Resources • Environment & Climate • Information & Communications • Mobility & Infrastructure. TUM thinks and acts with an entrepreneurial spirit. Its aim is ambitious: to create lasting value for society through excellence in education and research, the active promotion of next-generation talent and a strong entrepreneurial spirit. All of which combine to make TUM one of Europe’s leading universities.
About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with revenues of $17 billion and approximately 50,000 employees in 50 countries. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. We help our customers accelerate life sciences research, solve complex analytical challenges, improve patient diagnostics and increase laboratory productivity. Through our premier brands – Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific and Unity Lab Services – we offer an unmatched combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and comprehensive support. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com
For further information, please contact:
JPT Peptide Technologies GmbH
Dr. Holger Wenschuh
Managing Director
Volmerstr. 5
12555 Berlin/Germany
Tel: +49 -30 -6392 5500
Fax: +49-30-6392 5501
E-mail: info@jpt.com
Web: www.jpt.com
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