Prof. Wei Yan was invited to visit our laboratory on May 7. He gave an academic lecture named “Translational proteomics: targeted strategy for clinical biomarker discovery” to our staff and students. It created a supportive and pleasant environment for them to have further academic discussion.

Proteomics systematically characterize cellular function at the protein level. It studies various protein properties in a biological system including expression, modification, interaction, localization, structure, and activity. Application of proteomics technology in clinical practice has been driven by the need of identifying and quantifying proteins at ever increasing sensitivity and in ever complex samples such as blood and tissue. However, clinical research requires proteomics technology that is not only sensitive and quantitative, but can reproducibly measure any set of proteins from a biological system in a complex mixture (e.g. blood, tissue) in a high throughput manner. Targeted proteomics analysis using mass spectrometry, the 2012 Method of the Year selected by Nature Methods, provides a complementary proteomics approach to the discovery capabilities of traditional shotgun proteomics by allowing reliable monitor of targeted proteins in complex mixtures. It is thus particularly useful in validating potential biomarkers in large scale of clinical samples. In this seminar, I will discuss several mass spectrometry-based targeted proteomics strategies as well as their possible applications in clinical biomarker development in order to improve disease diagnostics, prognostics, and therapy.