Development of a multiplexed mass spectrometry assay for the detection and quantification of organ toxicity biomarkers during preclinical drug safety assessments

In recent years, the interest given to disease biomarkers has boomed. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies are exploring ways to use biomarkers to speed up the drug development process, as well as to rapidly assess a diseases state, staging, progression and response to therapy. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) Mass Spectrometry (MS) has been shown to be well suited for the selective and sensitive quantification of proteins in plasma and has recently emerged as the technology of choice for disease biomarker study. The focus of this research project is to develop a highly multiplexed MRM assay to quantitatively measure changes in organ-specific toxicity biomarkers and test their predictive value following drug-induced organ injury in rats. More specifically, this assay will be used to detect and quantify protein biomarkers associated with various organ toxicities such as hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, cardiotoxicity as well as muscle, vascular and neurotoxicity in the rat urine and plasma.

Faculty Supervisor:

Pierre Thibault

Student:

Partner:

Caprion Proteomics Inc

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Université de Montréal

Program: