MOBILion Systems, Inc., has announced a collaboration with an international research team to identify alterations in the metabolism of selective glycosphingolipids in specific brain regions that contribute to the progression of Parkinson’s disease. The project has received a grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation and its partner the Shake It Up Australia Foundation.
The research team includes Dr. Kim Ekroos of Lipidomics Consulting Ltd., a pioneering subject matter expert in the field of lipidomics, the research group of Dr. Shane Ellis at the University of Wollongong in Australia; Dr. Ron Heeren from the Maastricht Multi Modal Molecular Imaging Institute (M4I), a world-leading institute in lipid Mass Spectrometry Imaging; Dr. Nathan Hatcher, a Principal Scientist with the Department of Neuroscience at Merck.
This research will utilize MOBILion’s Structures for Lossless Ion Mobility (SLIM)-based High-Resolution Ion Mobility (HRIM) instrument to identify alterations in the metabolism of selective glycosphingolipids (GSLs) in specific brain regions that contribute to early Parkinson’s onset and accelerated progression rates.
“We are excited to apply MOBILion’s high resolution separations technology to advance the characterization of glycosphingolipids,” says Dr. Melissa Sherman, MOBILion Systems CEO. “Our HRIM-MS instrument can rapidly reveal previously indistinguishable GSLs that are critical to understanding PD.”
“Our approach is a game-changer,” states Dr. Kim Ekroos, founder and CEO of Lipidomics Consulting Ltd. “Mutations in the GBA1 gene, the most prevalent genetic risk factor for PD, results in accumulation of glucosylceramide and glucosylsphingosine. However, we do not know the breadth of alterations in glycosphingolipids and how this contributes to PD. We will combine mass spectrometry imaging with isotope labelling methods that allow us to track the synthesis and breakdown rates of glycosphingolipids in different brain regions, in real-time, as well as using MOBILion’s High-Resolution Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry to study how larger, more complex glycosphingolipids are altered in PD. With this support from The Michael J. Fox Foundation, we can now utilize experiments that have never been done before to identify in what ways the glycosphingolipid metabolism can be restored in PD.”