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BGI Americas Opens Mass Spectrometry Center in California

Mass spec services for proteomics research and biologic drug characterization complement BGI genomics services

by BGI Americas
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BGI Americas, a leading genomic services company, announced today at the American Society of Mass Spectrometry conference (ASMS) that it has opened a state-of-the-art Mass Spectrometry Center at its research facility in San Jose, California. The new center gives BGI customers a resource for a range of mass spectrometry services for proteomics and drug characterization and offers synergies with genomics data analysis.

BGI, headquartered in Shenzhen, China, has a strong track record in the business of providing analytical services, including mass spectrometry, to a global customer base. The new San Jose-based Mass Spectrometry Center extends that expertise to North American customers in pharmaceutical drug development, basic life science research and translational medicine. The new Mass Spectrometry Center investment signifies a global extension of multi-omics solutions for the scientific community. Additional mass spectrometry services will become available throughout the year.

BGI co-founder and chief mass spectrometry scientist, Dr. Siqi Liu, described BGI’s most recent push as an opportunity to stand at the forefront of proteomics by allowing researchers to integrate sequencing and mass spectrometry data to explore the basic chemical codes that underpin all biology. Dr. Charles Bao, general manager of BGI Americas adds, “Our operations based in San Jose can better address the demand from our North American customers and leverages existing BGI know-how in mass spectrometry.”

“The experienced Mass Spec team at BGI has been very helpful with advice for my projects and has generated great data in a short time,” says BGI customer Lei Wang, professor at The University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Wang adds, “They have proven to be an important resource for our projects, and we are looking forward to more collaborations in the near future.”

In addition to proteomics, the San Jose Mass Spectrometry Center will provide specialized expertise in state-of-the-art biologics characterization, including first-in-class support for non-denaturing mass spectrometry or “native MS” analysis of biomolecules. The commercially available native MS services at BGI are supported by an experienced San Jose-based scientific team that includes laboratory director Dr. Guanghui Han and product manager Dr. Aaron Bailey, who share a history of successful collaboration while previously employed at Genentech and Thermo Fisher, respectively.