Adam Jordens@littlesquare:~/

People ask me all the time what I do.

I essentially tell them I’m a technical lead at a Bio IT software company that develops solutions for lab management. If the conversation goes any further, I’ll mention that we’re specifically targeting proteomics facilities and their significant data management and process tracking needs.

I was just doing some reading tonight and came across a pretty good description of proteomics. I’ll post it here for the interest of others: (the content actually came from a post about the Dana-Farber Institute)

Though not a new field of study, proteomics is poised to have a potentially sweeping effect on cancer research, thanks to recent advances in both technology and the ability to analyze mammoth amounts of data. In recent years, Dana-Farber has made a firm commitment to the field with the purchase of equipment capable of rapidly analyzing the proteins made by cells, and with support of research that aims to identify some of the hallmark proteins associated with cancer. As part of this effort, the Institute recruited Jarrod Marto, PhD, and John Quackenbush, PhD, experts in proteomics and computational biology (which develops computer models to analyze large data sets), respectively. Marto will direct the new center.

While genomics focuses on the activity of the approximately 25,000 genes in human cells, proteomics is concerned with proteins, the “workhorses” of cell life, which carry out a cell’s functions, be it transporting oxygen (as in red blood cells), filtering toxins from blood (in liver cells), or secreting digestive acid (in stomach cells).

Genes issue the instructions for protein production, but genomics provides little information on when or how much of a protein is made. Moreover, proteins’ function depends on their interactions with other proteins and on modifications they undergo over time — areas about which genomics is silent. Finally, most drugs, including anticancer drugs, are directed against proteins, so a more complete understanding of the proteins that contribute to the behavior of cancers will result in better and more effective drugs.

Proteomics seeks to identify all proteins produced by cells, as well as their interacting partners and structural changes, as these change over a cell’s life cycle and as normal cells become cancerous. Such information may prove invaluable in designing new cancer treatments and diagnostic tests.