Gel imaging system helps detect ocular-disease causing proteins

British image analysis solutions manufacturer Syngene has announced that the Dyversity 2D gel imaging system is being used in Mexico to assess the proteins linked to ocular diseases.

The Institute of Ophthalmology (Fundación Conde de Valenciana), Mexico, uses the imaging system to view proteins stained with silver or Coomassie blue on 2D and 1D gels. Dyversity can also analyse chemiluminescent protein arrays and Western blots. The data retrieved from the gels and blots help identify which proteins cause certain ocular diseases.

Dr Victor Bautista de Lucio, Professor Researcher at the Institute, said: “We extract tears from patients with eye diseases and study the protein profiles in their tears. This means we often need an imaging system that can detect very small amounts of proteins in our 2D gels. We had an image analyser but it was not sensitive enough and sometimes we even had to go back to using manual Polaroid plates to help us visualise the protein spots, which made image analysis very difficult.”

The system will enable the institute to create good quality proteomic profiles in a range of ocular diseases.