Stemina Taps Agilent Tools for Stem Cell Metabolite Biomarker Discovery

Stemina Biomarker Discovery will use Agilent Technologies’ tools to accelerate its metabolomic research. The firm is leveraging metabolomic analysis of stem cells for the discovery of biomarkers for use in drug screening and drug development.

Agilent is providing a 1290 Infinity UHPLC system to separate stem cell metabolites along with a 6530 Accurate-Mass quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer to identify those metabolites. Agilent is also providing Mass Profiler Professional software to help Stemina researchers interpret data generated by the metabolomics experiments.

“We have used Agilent technology since Stemina began operations in 2007 and have been very pleased with the instrumentation, support, and collaboration we have experienced with Agilent,” remarks Beth Donley, Stemina CEO.

Stemina’s cell-based assays arise from the convergence of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and metabolomics. The company uses Agilent mass spectrometry systems to analyze small molecules secreted by hESCs and differentiated cells such as heart and neural cells made from hESCs in response to drugs, injury, or disease. The company’s devTox™ assay is used to screen pharmaceutical agents for teratogenicity.