HMT Platform

CE-MS

HMT has focused its attention on the fact that intracellular metabolites are small cationic or anionic molecules and has developed an analysis technology based on CE-MS, which is a combination of capillary electrophoresis (CE) and mass spectrometry (MS). The use of CE-MS realizes an incredible measurement capability with high-speed separation, high resolution, and high sensitivity for ionic compounds. Furthermore, when a neutral substance is also to be measured, combination of CE-MS with liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) enables the identification of all metabolites in a cell.

Metabolomics

Other than nucleic acids (e.g., DNA) and proteins, numerous small molecules, such as sugars, organic acids, and amino acids, are present in the living body, and the number of molecular species reaches several thousands. Most of these substances are byproducts of metabolic activities of enzymes.

In addition to the exhaustive analyses of DNA sequences (genome analysis) and proteins (proteome analysis), the exhaustive analysis of metabolites (metabolome analysis) is important for a comprehensive understanding of cellular functions because the dynamic behavior of metabolites cannot be predicted without information regarding metabolome.

At HMT, this metabolome analysis can be performed in an extremely rapid and accurate manner by using the CE-MS technology. The quantitative measurement of all the metabolites in a cell enables us to offer an analysis service that is invaluable to various fields such as medical care, drug development, disease diagnosis, and food industries.