Biognosys AG announced the second release of its Spectronaut software for analysis of Hyper Reaction Monitoring (HRM) data. HRM is a targeted proteomics technology that enables reproducible and accurate quantification of thousands of proteins in a single instrument run. It thereby bridges the gap between the scale of shotgun proteomics with the ability to identify many proteins and the quantitation accuracy of MRM/SRM that allows high quality quantification of smaller number of proteins. HRM is based on data-independent acquisition (DIA) performed on the new generation of mass spectrometric systems. DIA on the Thermo Scientific Q Exactive hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometer enables acquiring MS/MS signals from all detected precursor ions present in the sample, similar to SWATH Acquisition performed on AB SCIEX TripleTOF 5600+ System. HRM combines DIA with high resolution MS/MS, large spectral libraries and a targeted approach for data deconvolution and analysis. Spectronaut software was first launched by Biognosys in January 2013 for analysis of SWATH data. The new software release also supports analysis of DIA data generated on Q Exactive. Together with this release, Biognosys provides an acquisition method for Q Exactive that has been optimized for high content quantification experiments.

Other new features of the updated software include advanced HRM-specific peak scoring and new visualization options like a multiple-run alignment view. The software uses a proprietary high speed data format that allows processing of 100’000s transitions within minutes and incorporates advanced mProphet algorithms (Nature Methods, 2011) adapted for HRM to enable accurate signal detection and statistically valid peak scoring. The powerful principle behind the software is the integration of the software algorithms with a reagent kit – HRM Calibration Kit – that provides optimal customized parameter calibration for any end-user system independently on the specific chromatography and mass spectrometer set-up. The software is a user-friendly desktop application that can be installed and run on a standard notebook.

Biognosys AG, http://www.biognosys.ch/spectronaut