Proteomics & Metabolomics

The term „proteome“ refers to the sum of proteins and protein variants present in an organism. For practical reasons during analysis, partial proteomes such as the plasma proteome, proteomes of certain cell types or subcellular compartments are differentiated. New technical developments make it possible not only to identify individual proteins among a large number of other proteins, but also to quantify them at the same time. In addition, posttranslational changes of proteins such as phosphorylation or glycosylation can be characterized. Furthermore, functional states of specific enzymes or enzyme classes can be represented (activity based protein profiling (ABPP)). This opens up a variety of possibilities for the precise analysis of biomarkers in body fluids to determine the function of organs or changes in tumours.

The DGKL division „Proteomics & Metabolomics“ was founded in order to assess the importance of proteome research approaches in the discovery of biomarkers and in clinical-chemical diagnostics. The research group cooperates with the German Society for Proteome Research.

The objectives of the division include the following:

• Evaluation of methods for the detection of complex proteomes
• Definition of preanalytical conditions for proteome analysis
• Cataloguing of proteins of the human plasma proteome
• Cataloguing of proteins of all blood cells („Cytomics“)
• Organisation of workshops on proteome analysis topics