Computational solutions to implement holistic mass spectrometry in clinical practice
Molecular diagnostics is a key asset in personalised healthcare to diagnose disease and to ensure that each individual receives the right treatment at the right time. Recent developments in holistic mass spectrometry enabled robust measurement of up to tens of thousands of biomarkers from a single drop of blood. The main bottleneck for implementation in clinical practice is however a lack of efficient data workflows to translate complex data into lucid test-reports. The EnFORCE project is a public-private partnership between the Radboudumc and Bruker Daltonics to develop real-time data processing solutions that will solve this bottleneck.
Holistic data acquisition in routine diagnostics is highly anticipated as it enables retrospective analysis of biomarkers or even discovery of novel biomarkers from a single experiment thereby eliminating the tedious process of developing and applying different methods for biomarker discovery and application. Comprehensive molecular information gained from a single laboratory test will provide new insights and information of the disease status and the effect of therapies for improved patient care.
Two complementary diagnostic workflows will be developed in EnFORCE to cover key components for a broad range of clinical applications. Workpackage 1 will develop data workflows for clinical implementation of proteome expression data in minimal residual disease patientcare. Workpackage 2 will develop data workflows for clinical implementation of glycopeptide-based protein glycosylation profiling in diagnosis of congenital disorders of glycosylation.
Diagnostic workflows developed by EnFORCE will enable routine implementation of functional proteomics in personalized and large-scale population biomarker applications. Quality of life for patients will improve by less cumbersome, faster, and successful diagnostics as well as personalized treatment strategies by better informed decisions. Knowledge gained in EnFORCE on how to implement real-time computing for clinical holistic mass spectrometry will lay the foundations for subsequent industrial development of a commercially available solution for clinical laboratories.
