Waters Corporation and Imperial College London Expand Systems Biology Collaboration

Waters Corporation announced today it will expand its research collaboration with Imperial College London by equipping the Waters Laboratory of Molecular Spectroscopy at Imperial College London with three high-end research instruments -- the Waters ACQUITY UPLC System, and Waters Q-Tof Premier and GCT Premier Mass Spectrometers.

The announcement was made as Imperial unveiled a new state-of-the-art NMR facility incorporating the mass spectrometry-based Waters Laboratory of Molecular Spectroscopy. This newly-equipped laboratory will allow the Division of Molecular Biosciences to leverage a unique alignment of instrumental resources -- mass spectrometry, high-resolution separations technologies, and nuclear magnetic resonance technology -- to drive broad research programs in the increasingly important area of systems biology.

Art Caputo, President of the Waters Division, attended the official ceremony hosted by Imperial College inaugurating the laboratory. Also attending from the Waters Division were: Dr. Rohit Khanna, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing; Brian Smith, Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Market Development; and Dr. Robert Plumb, Manager of Pharmaceutical Applications and Development.

The collaboration and new facility will allow researchers at Waters and Imperial to address fundamental medicinal-biology problems, which in turn will pave the way for a better understanding of the underlying causes of disease and the effect of lifestyle and diet on health and overall well-being. It is hoped that the work done at this laboratory will provide the tools necessary to make significant steps toward the goal of personalized medicine.

Thanking Waters Corporation for their support, Jeremy Nicholson head of Imperial's Department of Biomolecular Medicine said, "I'm delighted to welcome Arthur Caputo and his colleagues from Waters Corporation. Their investment in the new mass spectrometry laboratory -- together with our new NMR facility -- means that the College has a uniquely powerful new facility for molecular structure elucidation, which will enable researchers here in the future to develop new disease diagnostics based on small molecule biomarkers and to understand molecular mechanisms of disease."

"For the last four years Waters has enjoyed a strong relationship with Imperial College London," said Art Caputo, President of the Waters Division. "During that time, we have worked on honing our expertise in the area of chemometric data analysis for metabonomics and biomedical applications and worked on strategies for creating more useful liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry tools for systems biology and structural characterization of biomolecules. We are delighted to be able to assist in continuing the important biological research with them and look forward to building on this relationship in the future."

Also attending the inauguration ceremony were Imperial College London's Rector, Sir Richard Sykes, Dr. Andres Ramos of the National Institute for Medical Research, Prof. David Barford of the Institute of Cancer Research, representatives of University College London, along with College faculty and staff members.

About Imperial College London

Consistently rated in the top three UK university institutions, Imperial College London is a world leading science-based university whose reputation for excellence in teaching and research attracts students (11,000) and staff (6,000) of the highest international quality.

Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that enhance the quality of life and the environment -- underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.