Meltec and Charité Campus Virchow announce collaboration on inflammatory bowel diseases and cancer

Magdeburg, Germany, February 15, 2008 – Meltec GmbH & Co. KG, a pioneer in topological proteomics, and the Charité Medical School Campus Virchow announced a collaboration in evaluating inflammatory bowel diseases with meltec’s new ultra high content analysis system, consisting of the Toponome® Imaging Cycler® (TIC) and meltec’s Toponome® Information Management System (TIMS).

Since global cellular function depends upon the protein network environment as a whole, by using Multi Epitope Ligand Cartography (MELC) as a novel, highly-multiplexed robotic imaging technology, the work of the research group currently aims to investigate the changes in the proteomic structure in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and malignancy. Furthermore, by uncovering the effect of novel drugs on mucosal protein function, the MELC technology is used to develop new therapeutic strategies in the treatment of IBD.

The partners already successfully applied MELC technology to tissue samples from patients suffering from Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis and Colorectal Cancer.

The results are published in:

Proteomic Analysis of the Inflamed Intestinal Mucosa Reveals Distinctive Immune Response Profiles in Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis
Uta Berndt, Sebastian Bartsch, Lars Philipsen, Silvio Danese, Bertram Wiedenmann, Axel U. Dignass, Marcus Hämmerle and Andreas Sturm
J Immunology 2007; 179: 295-304.

Systematic High-Content Proteomic Analysis Reveals Substantial Immunologic Changes in Colorectal Cancer
Uta Berndt, Lars Philipsen, Sebastian Bartsch, Bertram Wiedenmann,
Daniel C. Baumgart, Marcus Hämmerle and Andreas Sturm
Cancer Res 2008; 68: 880-888

Meltec’s system platform integrates a complete system for Ultra High Content Analysis to drug discovery and systems biology researchers. It includes an automated imaging system, the Toponome® Imaging Cycler® and meltec’s Toponome® Information Management System (TIMS) including a resources and data management system, an imaging analysis software as well as data-mining solutions. Intuitive data visualization tools make it easy for users to extract the biological information out of the highly complex imaging data.

Sebastian Bartsch (Project Manager)
Meltec GmbH & Co. KG
Leipziger Str. 44
39120 Magdeburg
Germany
Phone +49 391 6117-263
Fax +49 391 6117-277
sebastian.bartsch@meltec.de

About Charité Medical School Campus Virchow

Founded in 1710 the Charité Medical School is one of the oldest hospitals in Germany with a historic tradition in patient care, teaching and research. Consisting of the 4 headquarters Campus Virchow Clinic, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Campus Charité Mitte and Campus Berlin Buch with 14,000 employees, the Charité is one of the largest university hospitals worldwide. The lab of Assistant Professor Dr. Andreas Sturm at the Campus Virchow Clinic focuses its research on mucosal immunology.

About meltec

Inspired by the fundamental work of Walter Schubert, MD, meltec was founded in 1999 as a spin off of the university of Magdeburg, Germany and is located in ZENIT Technology Park. Meltec is a pioneer in the field of multiplex molecular imaging. The privately held biotechnology company is specialized in using topological proteomics (toponomics®) to identify mechanisms underlying disease pathology, assist drug development programs as well as academic research. The proprietary technology is able to simultaneously visualize dozens of proteins in situ at cellular and sub cellular level without disrupting the tissue or cell integrity. The platform integrates a complete system for ultra high content analysis as modular software tools. Due to the unique benefits of meltec’s technology platform, leading biotechnology companies and academic centres use the companies’ services and technology platforms. To strengthen its product portfolio, the company has established strategic alliances with several research institutions and companies. Sebastian Bartsch is the responsible project manager at meltec for the cooperation with the Charité Medical School Campus Virchow.

This release was published on openPR.