Home >> BASF’s Metanomics licenses MSU software to streamline plant system data entry

BASF’s Metanomics licenses MSU software to streamline plant system data entry


Shachar-Hill’s lab group studies metabolism and transport in plant systems, analyzing and modeling the fluxes through metabolic networks in developing seeds, arbuscular mycorrhizas, and other cells and tissues. The licensed iMS2Flux Metabolic Profiling Software is a command-line computer software package designed for high-throughput processing of mass spectral data.

The technology’s development is also fueled by funding from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. The GLBRC is led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with MSU as a major partner, and is one of three bioenergy research centers established in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The manual or traditional computer-aided data processing of mass spectra of labeled samples is extremely time-consuming and error-prone. It accounts for a substantial part of the effort required to understand metabolic processes in plant systems with labeling experiments. The software saves large amounts of time and lowers error rates, making possible high-throughput analyses that otherwise would require prohibitive amounts of expert user time.

The output of iMS2Flux can be used in other existing software for performing metabolic flux analysis and modeling. Additionally, the output can be used independently of other software for insights into plant metabolism.

BASF’s Metanomics is powered by an international and dedicated staff of about 120 scientists, engineers and technical personnel who cooperate across the company’s technical centers. Their areas of expertise span molecular biology, analytical chemistry, informatics, bioinformatics and physiology.