MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. (“Protea”), a leader in the field of bioanalytics, announced today the use of its proprietary LAESI® (Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization) technology to identify novel biomarkers of virally-infected cells.

In a paper published Dec. 14, 2011 in Chemical Communications titled “Rapid, non-targeted discovery of biochemical transformation and biomarker candidates in oncovirus-infected cell lines using LAESI mass spectrometry,” a team of researchers led by Dr. Akos Vertes, founder and co-director of the W.M. Keck Institute for Proteomics Technology and Applications at George Washington University, in collaboration with scientists from the National Center of Bio-Defense and Infectious Diseases of George Mason University (VA) and researchers at Protea, describe the use of LAESI technology to identify novel protein and metabolite biomarkers found in virally infected B lymphocytes, a form of white blood cell. The paper describes the effectiveness of LAESI mass spectrometry, combined with multivariate statistical methods to discover new biomarkers to identify virally-infected cells.

A biomarker is a molecule produced by a cell that indicates the cell’s biological status – either diseased or in response to a particular drug/ cell interaction. Biomolecules are useful to diagnose disease and to help identify the optimal therapy for a disease.

“We are very excited to see scientists involved in biomarker discovery apply LAESI technology for analysis of biochemical modifications within cells,” stated Alessandro Baldi, PhD., Protea’s Vice President & General Manager. “LAESI is re-shaping the way researchers are approaching intra-cellular investigations. The shift from making hypotheses for potential biomarkers and look for these candidates to a direct search of new unexpected molecules through LAESI mass spectrometry combined with multivariate statistics, changes the experimental design and facilitate speed of discovery of new biological paths. We envision that this technology will soon expand beyond research. In this case, for instance, once biomarkers are validated with functional studies, LAESI could be used as rapid screening for early diagnosis of disease.”

LAESI technology was invented in the laboratory of Akos Vertes, PhD., George Washington University. Using LAESI mass spectrometry, large numbers of biomolecules can be rapidly identified and spatially mapped to cell structures, tissues, and fluids. The technology can be applied to live cells providing a real time and accurate representation of distribution of molecules in a biological sample. Protea is making LAESI technology available to biochemists and biologists commercializing the LAESI DP-1000 system or through its Bioanalytical Services organization.

Protea (www.proteabio.com) develops new bioanalytical technologies that enable the direct analysis of proteins, metabolites, and other biomolecules. Its Bioanalytical Services organization provides expertise and innovation to support projects from concept to knowledge.