Partnership announced for MALDI imaging software

New software allows user-friendly statistical analysis of large MALDI imaging data sets

Bruker and SCiLS GmbH recently announced a collaboration for a new software, SCiLS Lab, enabling a user friendly approach to the MALDI-MS imaging technique. SCiLS Lab, developed by SCiLS GmbH (Bremen, Germany), will allow improved statistical analysis of large data sets, including measurements of lipids, proteins, drugs, peptides and metabolites directly from tissue.

There have recently been technological developments and improvements in the MS imaging field, which have increased spatial resolution and acquisition speed of MALDI imaging data sets. This progress has created an increased demand for software that can handle the large amounts of data involved, and that can contribute to the generation of biological knowledge.

Dennis Trede, Managing Director at SCiLS GmbH, stated, “We are happy to collaborate with the market and technology leader in the field of MALDI imaging and to benefit from Bruker’s distribution channels. We believe our software can push MALDI imaging forward by enabling the analysis of large data sets with unprecedented ease of use for everyone”

The new technology will be particularly useful in histopathology research, focusing on molecular phenotypes in cancer, such as how cancer progression can be linked to expression patterns and the identification of proteins that appear to be associated with metastasis. Other features include spatial segmentation of immense data sets, an edge-preserving spatial de-noising and the ability to allow analysis of studies involving large numbers of patients.

Current users beta-testing the MALDI imaging equipment, such as Ferdinand von Eggeling, Head of Core Unit Chip Application at Jena University Hospital (Jena, Germany), have been impressed with the software. “We use MALDI imaging for the molecular analysis of head and neck cancers,” Von Eggeling commented. “My lab has been beta-testing the SCiLS Lab software, and the SCiLS team has been very knowledgeable and responsive to our suggestions. This software will enable the analysis of complex tumor tissues and make results more descriptive and accessible. ”

Source: Bruker and SCiLS GmbH Announce an Exclusive Partnership for SCiLS Lab Software for MALDI Imaging.