EXPANDING THE FRONTIERS OF MASS SPECTROMETRY TECHNOLOGY

Shimadzu Biotech establish research lab for Nobel Prize Winner

24th July 2003. In honour of his receipt of The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2002 for the discovery of Soft Laser Desorption of macromolecules, Shimadzu Corporation (Kyoto, Japan), the founder of Shimadzu Biotech, has established the Koichi Tanaka Mass Spectrometry Research Laboratory in Kyoto, Japan.

Through industrial and academic partnerships, this new laboratory, headed by Koichi Tanaka himself, aims to enhance and develop new platforms for mass spectrometry (MS). Such new and innovative MS technological developments would then be commercialised by Shimadzu Biotech.

A further goal of the new laboratory is to develop completely new applications that will enable the introduction of MALDI-MS to new scientific fields and markets. This revolutionary MS technique is very suitable for use by non-specialists for example, since it is user friendly, whilst offering higher sensitivity and throughput than any other analytical systems on the market today.

Mr Tanaka commented, “To achieve these goals, we would like to collaborate with the leading experts in a wide range of technologies. To do this, we expect to deepen communications and instigate partnerships with researchers from key institutions worldwide. This will pave the way for realising the potential for completely new mass spectrometry platforms.”

“The discovery of MALDI-MS has opened up many new areas of research within the fields of proteomics and glycomics for example. We are very excited that the opening of the new laboratory will enable further exploration of the full capabilities of this powerful technique in numerous other fields and markets,” said Dr Ichikawa, Chairman of Shimadzu Biotech.

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About Shimadzu Biotech

Headquartered in Japan, Shimadzu Biotech is a strategic global business unit of Shimadzu Corporation, one of the world’s largest instrument manufacturers with annual instrument sales of $1 billion. Shimadzu Biotech captures, within one dedicated organization, the best expertise and technology from within Shimadzu Corporation and its UK subsidiary, Kratos Analytical (part of Shimadzu Biotech).

The Company is focused on providing integrated solutions for life science and drug development to accelerate the progress of biotechnology in research and development. It provides unique solutions for genomics, proteomics and metabolomics and aims to assist in the advancement of drug development and the practice of medicine in tailor-made medical treatment.

Shimadzu Biotech’s product offering includes mass spectrometry integrated with enabling technology for high throughput analysis (MALDI, LC/MS, automated systems for analysing gels with mass spectrometry). In addition, it offers specific solutions for DNA analysis, ranging from UV spectroscopy to chip-based electrophoresis, which includes exclusive global patents in gene analysis.

For more information, please contact:

Shimadzu Biotech
Tetsuo Ichikawa, Chairman
Fax: +81-75-823-1364
Tel: +81-75-823-1148
email: tichi@shimadzu.co.jp
Website: www.shimadzu.co.jp

For press information, please contact:

HCC De Facto
Sarah Perceval, Account Director
Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 3300
Fax: +44 (0)20 7496 3355
email: s.perceval@hccdefacto.com