Sample preparation for personalized immunotherapies (MINERVA)

In the MINERVA project, a novel sample preparation for the analysis of the immunopeptidome by mass spectrometry is being developed on the basis of microfluidics with innovative, loss-minimising surface coatings. In the future, this should make patient-specific cancer therapies possible.

The overall goal of the project is to improve the treatment of patients with solid tumours through more accurate stratification using patient-specific tumour markers. In order to achieve this goal, the sample preparation for the direct determination of the immunopeptidome by LC-MS/MS will be standardised and miniaturised in the MINERVA project using a microfluidic approach to enable the analysis of small sample quantities (< 5 mg tissue) in a reproducible manner. For this purpose, a coating to avoid adsorption losses of proteins and peptides in microfluidic chips will be developed, which is compatible with conventional production processes of microfluidic chips as well as with the subsequent analysis (tandem mass spectrometry). In addition, the sample preparation workflow is miniaturised and implemented microfluidically.