Indiana University-developed tech could lead to a revolution in medicine. Here’s how. – The Herald-Times

How much does a molecule weigh? Well, that depends.Molecules, like people, come in various shapes and sizes.

That difference in size can mean a lot for researchers in the ever-evolvingpharmaceutical industry. Molecular weight is a key component tomanufacturing it can actually be used to determine how effective a pharmaceutical drug is.

"Probably the single most important piece of information that you can get (from a mass) isits molecular weight How big is it? How heavy is it? Mass spectrometry is a very accurate way of measuring the masses of molecules," distinguished IU professor Martin Jarrold said.

Jarrold andfellow IU chemistry professorDavid Clemmer are the founders ofMegadalton Solutions, a start-up company whosetechnology has made a big splash in the measurement field.

Look inside: Monroe County's most expensive home sold in 2021 features lake view, lots of space

These two Indiana University chemistry professors developed a new, refined method to test the effectiveness of experimental pharmaceuticals. Some of these drugs, coined thenext-generation medicine, are projected to revolutionize the medical field.

"(The technology)just came along at the right time,"Jarrold told the Herald-Times.

Megadalton Solutions recently entered an exclusive licensing agreement withWaters Corporation, ananalytical laboratory instrument and software company. Waters was recently recognized as one of America's largest companies of 2021 by Fortune Magazine.

The technology, an IU-refinedtake on charge detection mass spectrometry (CDMS), will be usedto test the potency of newpharmaceutical drugs in the rapidly evolving field of gene-based therapies. This new wave of medicine can potentially prevent orprovide long-term treatment of certain genetic disorders.

Mass spectrometry converts the molecule into an ion, which can then be weighed on an instrument.

You might not recognize amass spectrometeroffhand, but you've definitely used one before if you've boarded a flight in the last 20 years. An airport'sdetector sensors are compact mass spectrometry instruments.These sensors are used as homeland security checks to identifyillegal drugs orexplosive compounds.

However, since the first mass spectrometer was invented in1912, the instrument has had limitations.

For objects with a light molecular weight, such as antibodies,scientists havea tried and true method of measurement known as conventional mass spectrometry. But for determining the weightof large, heavy molecules, it has historically been less like reading a number off a scale and more like that age-old weight guessing game typically seen at a county fair.These specific drugs, such as those being developed for gene therapy, can weigh over a million mass units.

"Whereas conventional mass spectrometry played a role in the development of the small-molecule drugs, it ran into this sort of fundamental problem with being able to measure the masses of the heavier, larger molecules that are being developed as drugs now," Jarrold said.

More IU news: Indiana University trustees violated open door law with Michael McRobbie payment approval

For heavier molecules, scientists must use charge detection mass spectrometry. Jarrold and his team of collaboratorshave builta machine thatcan analyzelarge, complex molecules with an unprecedented level of accuracy and speed.

According to Jarrold, the idea for the technology was borne out of a desire for kinship.

When he first arrived at IU, Jarrold felt like an outsider. While his colleagues were discussing their work withviruses, his background was rootedin massspectrometry.

"I thought, 'Gosh, you know, wouldn't it be cool if we could start weighing viruses and I'd have all these collaborators that I could work with and feel as thoughI was a member, instead of somebody on the outside,'" Jarrold recalled.

This led him to a scientific discovery, aided by several colleagues and students throughout the years.

According to Jarrold, he has spent close to a decade on the technology, tinkering in the IU chemistry building. The machine has been viable for five years now and Jarrold and others at IU continue to refineit for commercial use.

IUs Innovation and Commercialization Office madeefforts to patent a lot of the technology that helped secure thecorporatepartnership. Dan McNerny, a technologycommercialization manager in the office, has worked with Jarrold for several years on the business side.

"I did not need to be sold on it," McNerny said.

Before his current position,McNerny was a researcher who hadlooked into manufacturing therapeutics, where something like Jarrold's technology would have made a big difference.

"Ultimately why my project failed is because we could never actually determine what was in the mixtures that we were creating. We would tryto find how heavy it was and the result was you'd get a blob back,"McNerny said.

The technology can have various applications in the medical industry, such as analyzing vaccines or lipoproteins incardiovascular diseases.

"There's awhole slew of these large objects, which have not previously been accessible to accurate mass measurements, that cannow be analyzed," Jarrold said. "The sort of drug that CDMS really is having an impact in the area is gene therapy, which is really sort of revolutionizing medicine at the moment."

Waters Corporationhas indicated that Megadalton Solutions' technology will be further developed foruse in gene therapies.

Gene therapyis a new medical approach that can treator even preventcertain diseases by correcting the underlying genetic problem, either throughreplacing a faulty gene or addinga new one.Gene therapy has the potential of being a new form of treatmentfor a wide range of diseases, such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and AIDS.

"Many of these genetic diseases, which are like death sentences for people that have them, can now be fixed," Jarrold said.

Currently, gene therapy can only treatmonogenic disorders, whicharecaused by variation in a single gene. Some examples of monogenic disorders include sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis andHuntington's disease.

"In the future, you can anticipate that the multiple gene ones can also be fixed as time goes on," Jarrold said.

Jarrold estimates that there areover 200 new gene- and cell-based therapy drugscurrently in the development research pipeline.

During development, pharmaceutical manufacturersmust verify there are no errors in the final product. Empty capsules could reduce the drug's potency. In a worst case scenario, it could even lead toharmful mutated genes. That's why technology such as Jarrold's CDMS is crucial in these preliminary stages.

Jarrold said he plans to continue working with Waterson the technology to improveits accuracy and performance. Once fully developed, the machines could appear in laboratories around the world.

"This could really lead to new and unexpected discoveries because nobody's measured the masses of these very large things with very high resolution," Jarrold said. "That area itself is like a complete unknown as to what we might find there. There could be some very interesting science there."

Contact Rachel Smithat rksmith@heraldt.com or @RachelSmithNews on Twitter.

Read the rest here:
Indiana University-developed tech could lead to a revolution in medicine. Here's how. - The Herald-Times