Pioneers win 'Canadian Nobel'

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Werner Ens, left, and Ken Standing in the mass spectrometry lab at the University of Manitoba. They have won the $100,000 Manning Innovation Award after inventing key features that allow scientists to identify proteins for health and agricultural purposes. (JANEK LOWE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

All about mass spectrometry

What is it? A mass spectrometer is an instrument that essentially identifies molecules by determining their weight.

 

How is it used? A mass spectrometer is used to help scientists identify molecules present in solids, liquids, and gases; determine the quantity of each type of molecule; and determine which atoms comprise a molecule and how they are arranged.

 

What are some of the things mass spectrometry is used for? The technology is applicable in many different fields. For instance, it is used to detect early-stage breast cancer; it can identify bacteria in Crohn's disease patients; can detect and identify the use of steroids in athletes; monitor the breath of patients by anesthesiologists during surgery; determine the composition of molecular species found in space; locate oil deposits by measuring petroleum precursors in rock; and determine gene damage from environmental causes.

 

 

 

 

Standing and Ens' award portfolio

 

-- The 2010 $100,000 EnCana Principal Award from the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation

-- Ken Standing won the 2009 Sir John William Dawson Medal for important contributions of knowledge in multiple domains from The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada

-- The 2006 $250,000 Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering, along with five other U of M scientists and equipment manufacturer MDS Sciex (now AB Sciex)

-- The 2000 NSERC Synergy Award with MDS Sciex

 

Manitoba winners of Manning Awards

 

1989 -- $100,000 Principal Award: Dr. Frank Gunston, pioneered the total artificial knee replacement

2006 -- $10,000 Innovation Award: Brad Caruk, designed the technology used by Sidetrack Technologies' subway tunnel advertising system

2009 -- $10,000 Innovation Award: Jeffrey Quail, invented Shockknife training device

When newly graduated physics PhD Werner Ens became nuclear physicist Ken Standing's post-grad associate in the late 1970s, their scientific pursuits were driven by pure intellectual curiosity.

On Friday, it was announced that Standing, 85, and Ens, 53, have become the first University of Manitoba scientists (and only the second Manitobans) to win the prestigious $100,000 EnCana Principal Award from the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation for their significant innovations in time of flight (TOF) mass spectrometry.

The award is sometimes referred to as the Canadian Nobel prize.

"When we started this way back in the late '70s no one expected it to make any money," Standing said. "It was simply a matter of wondering what the study of proteins or bio-molecules would lead to."

Now their patented technologies are the second most lucrative property among the portfolio of 50-plus technologies managed by the U of M's Technology Transfer Office, generating more than $500,000 a year to the university and more than $5 million since it was first commercialized.

Their innovations in the field of time of flight TOF mass spectrometry have enhanced research in all sorts of areas, including the study of tissues related to kidney transplant rejection, studying disease resistance in wheat and a recent Manitoba project to identify organisms that can be used to produce biofuels.

Famously, Standing and Ens' research team was the first to describe the SARS virus proteins.

But back when they began, not only was there no perceived commercial potential, there was hardly anybody working in the field.

In 1979, there were four papers presented at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) on time of flight analysis of molecules.

Thirty years later, Standing and Ens have developed a number of innovations, secured several patents and conducted all sorts of research on their own using TOF mass spec technology.

Now the mass spectrometry research society annually tables more than 1,000 papers a year on TOF.

The work that has come out of Standing and Ens' U of M labs is widely acknowledged to have a played an integral role in the rapid growth in understanding of proteins over the last 10 years.

The fine-tuning Standing and Ens have contributed to TOF mass spec technology has coincided with and aided the growth in the importance of the study of genetics and proteomics.

"I would say their presence (and the innovations they have been responsible for) was a critical factor in establishing proteomics in the clinical level in Manitoba," said John Wilkins, director of the Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology.

That is not to say their influence is restricted to the local scientific marketplace.

At the annual ASMS conference, Standing and Ens are stars in their community of 7,000 scientific colleagues.

Over the years, their lab has generated millions of dollars in research grant funding.

But the two of them take great pains to tell the layperson they did not invent mass spectrometry or TOF analysis or MALDI (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization) or electrospray ionization. (The latter two are methods of introducing and charging the molecules to be studied using TOF mass spectrometry.)

What they did do that no one else has done is devise technology that decouples the source of molecules and inserts them into the mass spectrometry machine in a way that heightens the sensitivity of the results and at the same time creates a more robust environment so that research results are better.

Essentially, they have helped make the TOF mass spectrometry research experience far more efficient and cost-effective.

Their developments have been patented and the technology licensed by AB Sciex, a division of the multibillion-dollar Washington-based Danaher Corp., and incorporated into its mass-spectrometry machines. Those machines sell for between $600,000 and $800,000 apiece.

Bruce Thomson, principal scientist with AB Sciex in Concord, Ont., said the company has had an open collaborative relationship with Standing and Ens' lab for about 15 years.

The company continues to partner with the U of M physicists on research projects and the inclusion of the licensed technology in Sciex equipment, including the just-launched TripleTOF 5600 System, has been one of the reasons the market for mass spec machines has blossomed over the last decade and has helped AB Sciex to become a leader in the field.

"Their technology has helped us produce equipment with higher sensitivity that allows researchers to obtain more and more specific analysis of proteins," he said. "And they continue to develop new tools and techniques."

In addition to the technology innovations, the two regularly engage in inter-disciplinary collaborations with plant scientists and medical scientists.

At Wilkins' Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology, they use TOF mass spec to evaluate cancer treatment to see how protein content changes.

"Not so long ago there was a time when people would say, 'I don't think you can do that,' " Wilkins said. "Now it is very common to use mass spec for a broad range of research."

Standing and Ens will officially receive the Manning award at a gala dinner in Ottawa on Sept. 17.

On Friday, they were honoured at an event in Winnipeg attended by Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger and senior members of the business and academic communities.

Harry Schulz, the Manitoba chapter chair of the Manning Foundation, said, "The promotion of innovation is an important part of the wealth creation in our community."

Digvir Jayas, vice-president of research at the University of Manitoba, said the work that Standing and Ens have done adds prestige to the university.

"In addition to recognizing the excellence of the research done at the U of M, it also will encourage other scientists to see the value in applied research and the possible benefits to society."

Earlier, when asked what they would do with the money, neither Standing nor Ens had anything to say.

A colleague said they will probably sink it into more research.

"Most scientists don't care about the money," Jayas said. "We are just interested in understanding how things work. Any awards (or commercial success) is just icing on the cake."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 4, 2010 B4