The BioProfiling platform consists of two perfectly complementary technological platforms: a «MetaVision» platform, dedicated to small molecules, and a «MS-Quanta» platform, shared with ULiège, dedicated to macromolecules (proteins). It is located at UMONS, which is recognised for its expertise in NMR spectroscopy (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and mass spectrometry, and already has many researchers and instruments in this field. The platform is open to all in the biotechnology sector – universities, research centres, hospitals and businesses.

The “Méta-Vision” platform is based on NMR technology and will be dedicated to metabolomics. This innovative approach is used to analyse all the small molecules (MW <1500 Da) present in a cell, an organ or a biological fluid at a given time, and under specific conditions, in order to identify a metabolic signature. A structural identification of potentially intersting molecules could be also performed by 1D and 2D NMR

The MS-Quanta platform is based on mass spectrometry for the identification and absolute quantification of much larger molecules, such as proteins. This platform is based on targeted SRM/MRM proteomics technology and data-independent acquisition (DIA). These two approaches are used to quantify more than 100 targets in one analysis, and they avoid the pitfalls of immunological approaches related to the use of antibodies.

The particularity and the advantage of the MS-Quanta platform is to have two complementary and perfectly coordinated units (multi-site platform), one located within the BioProfiling platform (UMONS / ULB – WALLONIA BIOMED Portfolio) and the second within the GIGA-Proteomics platform (ULiège – BIOMED HUB Portfolio). This «two-headed» structure satisfies the requirements imposed for the validation of biomarker candidates, namely:

• Independant instrumentation methodology
• Broadband (high speed)
• Multi-sites studies