Veritomyx Launches PeakInvestigator™ Software Services to Detect and Report Previously Hidden Mass Spectrometry Data

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Veritomyx, Inc., a leading innovator in mass spectral analysis software, today announced the commercial launch of PeakInvestigator™ software services ("PeakInvestigator"), applying advanced signal processing algorithms to reveal peaks and biomarkers previously hidden within overlaps in raw mass spectral data.  The result is more complete and precise peak lists that increase discovery rate and provide faster, more accurate biomarker identification and quantitation results from existing raw mass spectral files.

PeakInvestigator is a high performance computing, software-as-a-service product that can be embedded in any mass spectrometric workflow, or accessed independently for post-processing of mass spec outputs.  It processes raw mass spectral scans, and delivers an effective 3-4X resolution increase beyond that visible in the original data.  

PeakInvestigator's increased resolution provides the ability to detect and exploit important new biomolecular discoveries previously hidden in data overlapped into a single peak feature.  The ability to accurately detect, deconvolve and report previously hidden peaks and biomarkers offers researchers worldwide access to new discoveries mined from their enormous archives of existing raw mass spectral data. 

The introduction of PeakInvestigator Version 1.2 with this launch now extends PeakInvestigator services to all three major classes of mass spectrometers:  Time-of-Flight (TOF), Ion trap and Orbitrap.

Mr. Jeffrey N. Peterson, CEO & Chairman of Veritomyx, said:  "PeakInvestigator introduces a powerful multiplication of discovery capabilities for most mass spectrometers in use today, from basic 'unit resolution' instruments on up to some of the highest performance mass spectrometers.  However, we find it particularly exciting that researchers in all fields utilizing mass spectrometry have now been presented with a fresh, second opportunity to mine important discoveries from existing data.  In many cases, the archived data that can now be re-mined for new discoveries came from irreplaceable samples already consumed."

Mr. Peterson continued:  "Our valuable collaboration with Prof. Oliver Fiehn's laboratory in the West Coast Metabolomics Center at UC Davis provided an elegant illustration of PeakInvestigator software capabilities.  Their existing peak detection and reporting techniques applied to routinely acquired mass spectral data could not detect or resolve an overlapped peak pair in patient samples from a diabetes study.  PeakInvestigator was able to blindly detect, deconvolve and report this peak pair from the original raw mass spectral data for 98% of the patient samples.  More importantly, continued analysis from a similar coronary atheroma patient cohort revealed that where a single overlap was suspected, 40 additional hidden peaks where reported by PeakInvestigator, and later confirmed by higher resolution mass spectrometry with an 88% positive predictive value."

Dr. Luke V. Schneider, CSO of Veritomyx' parent Target Discovery, Inc., explained:  "PeakInvestigator uses advanced signal processing algorithms to deliver a statistically-driven result never before available in centroiding software.  The algorithms self-train to adapt dynamically to local baseline and changes in analyzer tuning parameters.  It consistently maximizes the yield of meaningful features detected." 

Dr. Schneider concluded:  "PeakInvestigator is fully automated requiring no user-adjustable parameters.  This robust algorithmic design minimizes user, run-to-run, and instrument variability, by adapting itself to instrument and tuning variations.  It takes the guess work out of mass spec analysis, and our users are consistently seeing 1-5% more real features than before."

About PeakInvestigator™ v1.2 Software Services

PeakInvestigator utilizes efficient high-performance cloud computing resources offered securely in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) format.  Hidden discovery challenges that would otherwise demand expensive upgrades in mass spectrometry hardware (assuming precious samples were even available for re-analysis) can instead be solved for pennies per scan as PeakInvestigator post-processes existing data.  PeakInvestigator is designed to process entire or partial LC/MS scan sets, or just a single spectrum.

A simple public application-programming interface (API) is freely available for implementation within user's existing mass spectrometry workflows.  This leaves their validated workflow intact, while selectively accessing new PeakInvestigator capabilities.

For immediate and convenient access, MZmine PeakInvestigator™ Edition extends MZmine 2, a popular open-source mass spectrometry workflow platform, to include PeakInvestigator in its mass detection options.  PeakInvestigator™ Direct Access allows users to upload and process one or more mass scans directly through their browser.

About Veritomyx, Inc.

Veritomyx, Inc. develops, markets and sells access to innovative software solutions addressing long-standing limitations in mass spectrometry signal processing and biomolecular identification challenges.  Across the life sciences, the complexity of biological samples often present demands to detect and resolve overlapped information, or to deliver extraordinary signal analysis precision in proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, etc.  These challenges extend into the food/agriculture sector, and beyond into petroleum, industrial, and environmental applications. 

Veritomyx is a majority-owned subsidiary of Target Discovery, Inc., an innovator in personalized medicine that specializes in the discovery, validation, and utilization of protein isoforms to improve clinical diagnosis and management of disease.

For easy access to download the resources noted above, simple account setup for PeakInvestigator™, or for more information about Veritomyx, please visit: http://www.veritomyx.com

SOURCE Veritomyx, Inc.

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http://www.veritomyx.com