Mass spect use outperforms alternatives

Mass spectrometry (MS) has shown the necessary abilities to rapidly identify a variety of biochemicals, making it a workhorse for discovering and validating biomarkers in clinical research related to drug development and diagnostic applications, according to a new research report by Kalorama Information (New York).

As such, MS has found a "decisive home" in protein biomarker applications, creating its own market currently worth $290 million, and estimated to grow to about $745 million by 2010.

According to "Mass Spectrometry for Protein Biomarker Applications," the MS technologies used in biomarker discovery and validation applications "far outperform" any alternatives for this purpose, and the ever-increasing abilities of MS in protein science have drawn large numbers of researchers to procure MS instruments or use available core lab facilities for proteomics experiments.

"Protein biomarkers are helping to revolutionize modern medicine by allowing much earlier diagnosis of disease, providing ongoing information on patients' responses to therapies, and/or predicting likely conditions or responses to therapeutics," said Justin Saeks, the report's author. "The use of mass spectrometry has enabled the large-scale discovery of such molecules providing both the diagnostics and pharmaceutical industries an opportunity for exceptional growth in the near term."

Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies independent market research for the life sciences.

Sagemark expands operations at New York facility

The Sagemark Companies (Rockville, New York) said it has expanded operations at its Rockville Centre, New York, PET imaging facility with the addition of a new 16 slice PET/CT imaging system, a Biograph system from Siemens (Malvern, Pennsylvania).

The system combines positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) technology to create a new diagnostic imaging system, the company said. As the patient undergoes a scan in this imaging system, the anatomically detailed information obtained from a CT scan is merged with the biological function recorded by the PET scanner to form not merely a photograph, but a "biograph" -- an image that records living tissues and life processes, Sagemark said.

The new PET/CT is the eighth diagnostic system to be installed at the company's seven PET imaging centers, Sagemark said.

Sagemark owns outpatient medical diagnostic imaging centers that use PET and CT imaging equipment.