Waters Introduces Glycoprofiling for Small Samples

Although Waters officially introduced its GlycoWorks RapiFluor-MS N-Glycan Kit in January 2015, the company announced on Dec. 16, 2015 that it has now released a version of the tool for smaller sample volumes. The release was coordinated in response to industry feedback, and is meant for companies that wanted to harness the tool’s deglycosylation and labeling features but could not invest in the larger, 96-sample format.

The new tool can accommodate 24 samples rather then 96 samples, so companies can incorporate the tool to perform routine biotherapeutic glycan analysis for smaller samples. According to the company, use of the kit allows for analysis “with greater speed, accuracy, and consistency than by using disparate instruments and processes.”

A Waters representative said that the biopharmaceutical company Regeneron, which is based in Tarrytown, NY, has already adopted the new RapiFluor-based workflow for the enzymatic deglycosylation of early-phase monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Regeneron said that its use of the tool reduced sample prep time significantly, reducing the total prep time from a range 6–24 hours to 45 minutes.