# Proteomics instruments and affinity platforms

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/proteomics-platforms/  
OnCo record `proteomics-platforms` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Machines that measure thousands of proteins at once from tissue or blood, used to find drug targets and early-detection markers.

## Summary

Mass spectrometry (Thermo Fisher Orbitrap Astral, Bruker timsTOF, SCIEX ZenoTOF) and affinity-based platforms (Olink/Thermo Fisher Explore, SomaLogic/Standard BioTools SomaScan, Alamar NULISA, Nautilus and Quantum-Si single-molecule approaches) deliver deep proteomes; UK Biobank's 50,000-participant Olink dataset and CPTAC's tumour proteogenomics illustrate the discovery value. Clinical proteomic tests remain few.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Tags: supporting
- Principle: Peptide fragmentation and mass measurement (bottom-up MS) or barcoded antibody/aptamer pairs read by sequencing or PCR quantify proteins across large dynamic ranges.
- Strengths: Direct measurement of drug targets and post-translational state; Plasma proteomics at biobank scale
- Limitations: Cost per sample; Dynamic range and low-abundance proteins; Standardisation across platforms

## Sources

- Method of the Year 2012: targeted proteomics (Nature Methods 2013): https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2329

## Connected records

- collections: [UK Biobank](https://onco.cc/collections/uk-biobank/)
- fronts: [Diagnostics & Biomarkers](https://onco.cc/fronts/diagnostics/), [Drug Discovery Platforms](https://onco.cc/fronts/drug-discovery/)
- technologies: [Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)](https://onco.cc/technologies/liquid-biopsy/), [Proteomics & phosphoproteomics](https://onco.cc/technologies/proteomics/)
- companies: [Bruker (Bruker Spatial Biology)](https://onco.cc/companies/bruker/), [Fujirebio](https://onco.cc/companies/fujirebio/), [Standard BioTools (SomaLogic)](https://onco.cc/companies/standard-biotools/), [Thermo Fisher Scientific](https://onco.cc/companies/thermo-fisher/)
- key papers: [Method of the Year 2012](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-authors-nat-methods/)
- terms: [Deep mass-spectrometry proteome (CPTAC)](https://onco.cc/terms/mass-spec-proteome/)

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