The Belgian foundation against cancer (Fondation Contre le Cancer) has just granted 900,000 euros in funding to the University of Liège for the acquisition of a mass spectrometry instrument that will allow the study of proteins at the cellular level. This new instrument will be located in the MSLab - GIGA Proteomics of the ULiège and will enable the continued development of cutting-edge research in cancerology.
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t's Agnès Noël, professor and director of the GIGA Cancer (Faculty of Medicine) at ULiège, who submitted the application for "Advanced Technology Equipment" for the acquisition of a mass spectrometer for studying proteins at the cell level to the “Fondation Contre le Cancer”. Funding of 900,000 euros has just been granted to the University of Liège for the acquisition of this new instrument, specially designed for the proteomic analysis of single cells. This will enable the study of the functional biological unit, the cell, via the analysis of its proteome, which is unique and evolves over time and as a function of its (micro)environment. The proteome of a cell gives an account of all the proteins present in the cell and their abundance. Access to the proteomic study of single cells will enable cutting-edge cancer research aimed at studying the cellular heterogeneity of tumours, as well as the mechanisms used by tumour cells and their environment to develop, spread locally and at a distance, and eventually resist treatment. This type of analysis makes it possible to identify and quantify proteins, their post-translational modifications and possibly to localise them in a tissue when coupled with imaging techniques. This information, which cannot be deduced from other "single-cell" type analyses (Single-Cell RNAseq, etc.), completes the research tools already available within the ULiège's technological platforms.
This new instrument will be located at the MSLab-GIGA Proteomics where Gabriel Mazzucchelli (MolSys research unit / Faculty of Science) has been developing the single-cell proteomics technique for the past two years, particularly within the framework of the Win2Wal ChipOmics project financed to the tune of 2.2 million euros. This new instrument will be used and optimised by a consortium of experts in proteomics and mass spectrometry, namely the mass spectrometry laboratory (MSLab, director Pr Gauthier Eppe), the MaS Santé platform at CIRM (Pr Marianne Fillet) and the GIGA-Proteomics platform (Dr Dominique Baiwir). The integration of these mass spectrometry research laboratories with complementary thematic expertise makes it possible to reach the critical size necessary to use this cutting-edge technology optimally and provide researchers with support from experts in the field.
The acquisition of this specific mass spectrometer for the proteomic analysis of single cells will greatly enhance the efforts in cancer research through the services that the GIGA Proteomics platform will provide.
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