Science and Technology

Metabolon’s chief scientific officer, Michael Milburn, along with several of Metabolon’s lead researchers recently published research on the identification of biochemical markers of aging. The research, appearing in the April edition of Pharmacogenomics, studied 269 subjects, ranging in age from 20 to 65 years old.

Conducting analysis using Metabolon’s proprietary biochemical profiling platform, blood samples from each patient revealed well over 100 biochemical markers (biomarkers) showing significant age-related changes. While some of the individual markers identified in this study have previously been identified by researchers as related to age, Metabolon’s unique global analysis provided unprecedented insight into the vast array of markers in a single analysis. By comparing the chronological age of the subjects to this global view of age-related biomarkers, the research demonstrates the ability to measure a person’s metabolic age.

Click here to read the complete publication in Pharmacogenomics.

Application Focus

It is widely understood that the production phase of bioprocessing can have a significant impact on the overall profitability of the biopharmaceutical. Organizations must analyze everything from total protein production level to glycosylation patterns as well as overall quality and stability. It is clear that the final product’s profitability can be dramatically changed by the culture process.

Protein production has been greatly improved through process monitoring of important variables such as dissolved O2, pH, lactate and carbon source depletion. Further optimization has been accomplished via formulation development using a cause and effect model as well as spent media analysis looking for a few specific rate limiting media components.

Given the large numbers of variables involved—especially in the composition of media nutrients—it is has traditionally been difficult to achieve globally optimal conditions using these methods.

Click here to download the full application note.