Armed with sequence information of the human and mouse genomes, a major aim of biological science is toward unraveling the underlying molecular events that lead to cellular function/dysfunction in disease with the goal of discovering better diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets. Proteomics aims to facilitate this process by applying newly developed methods and advanced analytical tools for the investigation of the protein complement en masse. Hence, our research interests lie in developing new technologies that bridge the fields of chemistry and biology with the focus of application of these developments for the characterization of proteomic changes associated with pathophysiology, ascribing to the philosophy that the most significant biomedical problems require creative multidisciplinary approaches for their solution. In practice, we utilize advanced mass spectrometry tools to conduct proteomic investigations of human disease. The information obtained enables elucidation of the function of individual proteins and establishment of the composition of functional units, protein-protein interactions, and protein pathways and networks. Since proteins represent the preponderance of the biologically active molecules responsible for most cellular functions, it is critical to develop and apply technologies for conducting direct measurements of proteins that may be involved in cellular dysfunction underlying the development of cancer. The output of this proteomics platform represents an integrated workflow for conducting fundamental discoveries of cancer at the protein level with a pipeline to translating these discoveries to clinically important applications. |
