The human proteome

The field of proteomics has certainly taken off following the recent mapping of the human genome. Whilst a higher organism has some 30,000 genes, it has around 300,000 protein species. Not all of these are present in all areas of the body, but a single cell is still likely to contain around 20,000 protein species.

Why studying proteins rather than genes is important can be seen by looking at the life cycle of a butterfly. As the butterfly develops from cocoon to caterpillar to butterfly, its genome does not change but its proteome does, as different proteins are expressed to produce very different creatures at different times.

The next great target is to map the human proteome. The Human Proteome Organisation (www.hupo.org) has been formed with the aim: “to assist in increasing the awareness of this discipline of science across society, particularly with regard to the Human Proteome Project and to engender a broader understanding of the importance of proteomics and the opportunities it offers in the diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of disease”. The inaugural meeting of HUPO has just taken place in the USA entitled “Human Proteome Project ‘Genes Were Easy’”.

The speed at which this field is moving can be seen from an announcement that has just been made of a collaboration between Myriad Genetics, Hitachi and Oracle with the aim of mapping the human proteome in less than three years! The collaboration will combine proteomics expertise from Myriad with the information and electronics technologies of Hitachi and the software capabilities of Oracle to analyse all proteins and their interactions within cells of the human body. This information is expected to be collected in a proprietary database of all human protein interactions, all biochemical pathways and a catalogue of purified proteins by 2004. The collaboration is valued at $185 million and will be run by the newly-formed Myriad Proteomics, a 50% owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics. www.myriad.com.

Proteomics tour

A series of seminars across Europe were organised from 27 to 30 March, attracting audiences in the region of 200 at each of the venues in Copenhagen, Berlin, London and Paris.

Talks were given by a number of proteomics experts from both Europe and the USA: see the next issue for a report. One interesting technical advancement was presented by Marvin Vestal, that of MALDI-ToF-ToF. This places a collision cell between linear and reflectron ToF analysers to enable MS/MS to be performed. The commercial instrument is set for release later in the year. www.appliedbiosystems.com.

NIR award

Büchi Labortechnik AG have announced the Büchi NIR Award for outstanding contributions in NIR spectroscopy and its applications. The value of the award is $5000 and the closing date for applications is 30 June.

Further information and application forms are available via www.buchi.com where you should select “Info/News”.

Williams–Wright award

The 2001 Williams–Wright Award from the Coblentz Society, which is presented at Pittcon, has been made to Raul Curbelo of the Digilab Division of Bio-Rad. The Williams–Wright Award is made to an industrial spectroscopist who has made significant contributions to vibrational spectroscopy.

New Research Professorships

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the UK’s research funding body, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have announced awards worth around £1.5 million for the support of three new research professorships in analytical science in UK universities.

The University of York’s post is concerned with High-Throughput Profiling: developing techniques for rapid analysis of complex mixtures; for example, proteins and metabolites, which are essential for an understanding of how genes function in cells.

The University of Sheffield will be concerned with Nano-scale Analytical Science: focusing on opportunities from new technologies which derive from the properties of materials with microscopic and sub-microscopic structural features.

UMIST’s post is in Bioanalytical Science: new analytical approaches for the study of functional genomics and the development of post-genomic science.

Magnetic resonance with Swiss rolls

Work by researchers at Imperial College, London, UK, has led to the development of a novel magnetic material that may lead to dramatic improvements in magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. The microstructured magnetic materials, nicknamed “Swiss rolls” by John Pendry of Imperial College, guide the RF magnetic flux to the receiver coils of the MRI instrument with very little leakage. The new material also does not disturb static RF fields, which maintains image quality.

The research was the result of a collaboration between the Department of Physics at Imperial College, Marconi Caswell Ltd and the Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, a division of Imperial College School of Medicine. The work has been published in Science (M.C.K. Wiltshire, J.B. Hendry, I.R. Young, D.J. Larkman, D.J. Gilderdale and J.V. Hajnal, Science 291, 849 (2001)].