news:New Applications of Pressure BioSciences' PCT Platform Prominently Featured at Scientific Conference on Technologies for Prot...
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Pressure Biosciences, Inc. (QB) (USOTC:PBIO)
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Today : Tuesday 19 March 2013
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SOUTH EASTON, Mass., March 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) ("PBI" or the "Company") today announced that scientists from three separate research groups presented data at the recent US HUPO 9th Annual Conference indicating that sample preparation methods based on the Company's patented pressure cycling technology ("PCT") platform resulted in improved quality and/or efficiency of test results. The US HUPO conference was held March 10-13, 2013 in Baltimore, MD. The studies were conducted by scientists from ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich; from the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") and the National Institutes of Health ("NIH"); and from the Johns Hopkins University, Louisiana State University, and Wake Forest University Schools of Medicine.
Professor Ruedi Aebersold, Professor of Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, stated that a key barrier to the development of personalized medicine cancer diagnostics and therapeutics has been the difficulty in identifying specific biomarkers. Data presented by Professor Aebersold indicated that by combining a novel biomarker strategy with a cutting-edge protein analysis method, the targeting of cellular and plasma proteins could be enhanced. This, in turn, could result in an increased chance to discover novel biomarkers. Professor Aebersold called this method "PCT-SWATH", since the use of PCT to prepare samples prior to analysis was essential to the process, offering high throughput with minimal sample loss. A case study on prostate cancer was used to illustrate the concept.
Dr. Natalia Pripuzova, from Dr. Michail Alterman's lab at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research of the FDA, presented data on the comparison of embryonic and IPSC stem cell lines. Cell lysis (i.e., breakage), an important part of the study's workflow, was routinely performed by Dr. Pripuzova and her colleagues using PCT in PBI's Barocycler instrument and consumables.
Dr. Zongming Fu, a member of Professor Jennifer Van Eyk's proteomics lab at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, presented data on improved protein extraction and identification from archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded ("FFPE") human aorta samples using high heat combined with PCT. Dr. Fu and his colleagues found that high heat combined with PCT increased protein extraction yield over heat alone, resulting in a greater number of protein identifications. They concluded that this method now makes it feasible to test archives of FFPE arterial and aorta samples, including rare and difficult tissues, for biomarker discovery.
Dr. Nate Lawrence, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for PBI, commented: "We are very pleased that such highly respected protein scientists recognize the advantages of PCT in their work. First, the use of PCT to prepare stem cells for analysis opens up a new field for us, one in which we believe a focused marketing effort will result in increased PCT instrument sales in the short term. Second, we believe the data on enhanced protein recovery from FFPE samples support the continued development of our PCT-based FFPE extraction system, which we expect to release later this year, and that we expect to have a positive impact on sales in 2013 and beyond."
Dr. Lawrence continued: "Mass spectrometry-based protein analytical methods have begun to move into the personalized medicine field. These diagnostic and prognostic tools offer the potential to save many lives and greatly improve therapeutic outcomes. The PCT-SWATH method introduced by Dr. Aebersold appears to offer a superior workflow for preparing very small samples for analysis, such as routinely collected needle biopsy specimens. We believe the market for such a method is very large, fragmented, and underserved. We plan to focus greater effort in this area over the coming months, as we believe it has the potential to add significantly to sales of PCT instruments and consumables in 2013 and beyond."
