The extraordinary complexity of the proteome, the whole proteins expressed by a genome, made it necessary to develop new complex tools for the analysis of proteins, together with improvements in the existing techniques for their revelation, structural analysis and characterization.

Parco Tecnologico Padano in Lodi set up an innovative technological platform to study proteins. The techmological platform is equipped with the following insrtumentations:

• Mass Spectrometer SELDI ToF (Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption and Ionization – Time of Flight)
• Softwares for biomarker discovery and validation
• Semi-analytic HPLC
• Complementary platforms LC-MS

In particular, these technologies enable the analysis of several types of samples of different origin (animal or plants) and different typology (cells, tissues, food matrices). The study and characterization of different complex matrices can be accomplished at different levels, by tailoring protocols of extraction, fractionalization or complete analysis of peptides and proteins in the sample.

This platform is highly efficient for the analytical study of the functional components of a given biological phenomena under observation, from the diagnostic identification of components related to the safety of a product to the research of molecular signals able to discriminate biological samples from healthy individuals and from individuals with pathologies.

Sensory qualities of a food product are determined by its metabolic and proteic composition. Proteins and metabolites represent the functional elements behind all the biochemical processes responsible for the phenotypic, aromatic and structural features of a given product. The understanding of the proteic composition of a given product is therefore fundamental to characterize it properly, to define its quality.

The need for a decodification of biological samples according to the proteic composition was the driving force for the improvement of technological platforms specialized in protein traceability and definition of proper protein fingerprintings, representative of a specific biological sample. This approach enables, from a proteic extract obtained from a sample, to obtain a so called "Mass Profile", a representation of the sample on the basis of its proteic composition.