Hear about the Top Down version of the Human Proteome Project!
The tectonic collision of biology with separation science, MS, and informatics occurred over the past 15 years and was driven by contributions from more than 100 laboratories. Like budding yeast, MS is sprouting emergent approaches for the direct profiling and MS/MS analysis of heterogeneous proteins in ever more complex mixtures. Such approaches promise to determine molecular indicators of complex diseases and deepen our understanding of dynamic regulatory mechanisms in cell biology.
A Cell-Based Approach to the Human Proteome Project (read more here)
The general scope of a project to determine the protein molecules that comprise the cells within the human body is framed. By focusing on protein primary structure as expressed in specific cell types, this concept for a cell-based version of the Human Proteome Project (CB-HPP) is crafted in a manner analogous to the Human Genome Project while recognizing that cells provide a primary context in which to define a proteome. Several activities flow from this articulation of the HPP, which enables the definition of clear milestones and deliverables. The CB-HPP highlights major gaps in our knowledge regarding cell heterogeneity and protein isoforms, and calls for development of technology that is capable of defining all human cell types and their proteomes. The main activities will involve mapping and sorting cell types combined with the application of beyond the state-of-the art in protein mass spectrometry.
The TedX Talk at Northwestern University (watch here)
The Four Minute video (watch here)
