Professor Phillip J Robinson, BSc (Hons), Ph.D.

BSc (Hons), PhD, Head of Cell Signalling Unit, Children’s Medical Research Institute, The University of Sydney Director of ProCan – The ACRF International Centre for the Proteome of Cancer Director of Australian Cancer Research Foundation-Centre for Kinomics
Professor Phillip J Robinson, BSc (Hons), PhD headshot

Project Goal

ProCan is the proteome of human cancer funded by the Australian Cancer Research Foundation ACRF. Over the next 5-7 years, ProCan will analyse 70,000 samples of all types of cancer from all over the world. The future goal of precision medicine is to take any tumor and present to the clinician, a suite of drug and surgical treatment options specific for that person.

The Challenges

  • Access to quality specimens with well documented clinical end points
  • Reproducible sample preparation and digestion from challenging sample types such as tissue
  • Digging deeper into the proteome in a routine and robust manner to enable discovery of novel markers

The Solution

  • SWATH® Acquisition on a large scale for high throughput proteomics, enabling large clinical studies to be undertaken
  • Six TripleTOF® systems working in a way that generates reliable results between instruments over time
  • OneOmics™ project data processing platform for fast processing of SWATH Acquisition data in the cloud

The Outcomes

  • Development of the PCT SWATH Acquisition workflow, consisting of robust sample preparation and data acquisition protocols enabling high-throughput proteomic analysis in large tissue sample cohorts
  • Providing large-scale proteogenomics data that can be used to inform cancer drug development and decisions on treatment in precision medicine
  • “Precision medicine became viable for us with the advent of SWATH Acquisition… The ability to use mass spectrometry at an industrial scale is something wholly new and there are only two or three of us in the world doing that at the moment.”

Type of Organization

ProCan is an international research project located at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) in Sydney Australia.

Goals

ProCan will develop a database of information to advance scientific discovery and enhance clinical outcomes worldwide.

SCIEX Products

  • TripleTOF® 5600 System
  • TripleTOF® 6600 System
  • SCIEX Triple Quad™ System
  • SWATH® Acquisition
  • “It’s been very valuable to work closely with SCIEX. Their service and support has been consistent and high level which has been really helpful to us.”