Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced a landmark collaboration that aims to introduce mass spectrometry-based workflows and technologies into Japan to advance personalized medicine and healthcare. The intent of the collaboration between Thermo Fisher's Biomarker Research Initiatives in Mass Spectrometry (BRIMS) Center and Toshihide Nishimura, professor at the Tokyo Medical University Hospital and Gyorgy Marko-Varga, professor at the Tokyo Medical University Hospital, and Lund University, Sweden is to establish and support a new Biomarker Research Center in Tokyo, Japan. The new Center will focus on biomarker discovery and quantification, disease mechanisms, therapeutic drug monitoring and disease pathophysiology.  

The BRIMS Center is the archetype for the coming Tokyo Biomarker Research Center. The goal is  to bring to the collaboration Thermo Fisher's expertise in mass spectrometry-based assays, workflow development and technology integration, as well as its extensive network of collaborators engaged in similar research.  

"In Japan there is an urgent need to develop more targeted disease detection and treatments for a rapidly growing patient population," said Murray Wigmore, senior director of commercial operations in Japan, Thermo Fisher Scientific. "The Tokyo Biomarker Research Center will be developed as the model to replicate the excellence of BRIMS in international markets." 

The aim is for the collaboration to result in the Tokyo Biomarker Center which will have dedicated laboratories based at Tokyo Medical. Correlation of protein expression and quantitative regulation for diseases of key concern in Japan such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiovascular disease will be performed to discover biomarker candidates related to drug response. The research center will also house an archive with comprehensive tissue and blood sample collections, along with access to complementary clinical and demographic data. The archive will include samples from drug responder and non-responders, and material from clinical studies performed in Scandinavia and other European countries. 

About the Collaborators

Professor Toshihide Nishimura, Guest Professor, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tokyo Medical University (Professor, Clinical Proteome Center during 2002-06), Tokyo Medical University, focuses on mass spectrometric development for clinical applications. In close collaboration with major medical institutes and hospitals in Japan, he has conducted many clinical research studies of biomarkers for lung disease and prostate cancer. Dr. Nishimura constructed an extensive network for clinical and biomarker research in Japan, and conducted extensive protein biomarker discovery research involving 52 lung cancer centers in Japan. Currently he is the board member of both the Japan Human Proteome Organization (JHUPO) and the Japanese Society for Clinical Proteomics (JSCP).

Gyorgy Marko-Varga is professor at the Tokyo Medical University Hospital, and Lund University, Sweden, and senior Drug, Discovery/Development scientist at AstraZeneca. His current research is focused on the development of novel diagnostic assays and platforms, and interfacing high resolution separation with mass spectrometry, to build an understanding of the mode of drug action and disease mechanisms for lung cancer and COPD. To that end, he is building new research groups involving collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry, academia and clinical hospitals. Working with Dr. Nishimura, he participated in protein biomarker discovery research involving 52 lung cancer centers in Japan. One of his major new challenges is responsibility for the "Big Three" study: Lung Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease and COPD, which involves 400,000 patients in Sweden. 

The BRIMS Center, a Thermo Fisher Scientific center of excellence located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, opened in 2004 with a mission to support the development of methodologies and applications for protein biomarker identification and verification. Equipped with a full complement of Thermo Scientific mass spectrometers and staffed by a team of scientists with expertise in mass spectrometry, protein techniques and informatics, the BRIMS Center also develops leading software tools for proteomic research.   

For more information about Thermo Fisher Scientific's extensive line of mass spectrometers, please visit www.thermoscientific.com/ms 

Thermo Scientific is part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) is the world leader in serving science. Our mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. With revenues of more than $10 billion, we have approximately 35,000 employees and serve customers within pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions and government agencies, as well as in environmental and process control industries. We create value for our key stakeholders through two premier brands, Thermo Scientific and Fisher Scientific, which offer a unique combination of continuous technology development and the most convenient purchasing options. Our products and services help accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, and solve analytical challenges ranging from complex research to routine testing to field applications. Visit www.thermofisher.com.