Monash Biomedical Proteomics Facility

• The link between the genome and disease rests in the nature and function of the coded proteins, molecules that already often serve as the target of the vast majority of drugs.
• The field of proteomics serves to bridge the gap between codon and protein.
• Proteomics describes the analysis of the protein content of the genome, known as the proteome, which embodies the characterisation of the entire protein complement expressed by a cell.
• Post-translational modification makes the proteome of an organism far more complex than its genome.
• The proteome is a highly dynamic system where within an organism the proteome is expressed such that significant differences in protein expression between cell types occurs all originating from a unique genome.
• Despite its complexity the proteomic approach can be simplified to only focus on certain aspects:
  • Functional proteomics where subsets of proteins with common features are isolated and characterised to define specific functions.
  • Expression proteomics where protein expression between samples is compared identifying differences in abundance of a particular protein.
  • Structural proteomics where the structures of proteins within the proteome are elucidated.
• Proteomics involves an initial separation of a protein extract exploiting the high resolving and separation power of 1 or 2-dimensional electrophoresis, multidimensional LC or other sophisticated chromatographic techniques.
• After proteolytic digestion, Mass Spectrometry (MS) and/or MS/MS fragmentation analysis is then used to determine the masses of the resulting peptide fragments or to obtain internal sequences which are then used to interrogate a protein database for protein identification.
• It is possible to identify individual proteins in complex mixtures without the need for purification of the target proteins using traditional complex isolation procedures.

Download Proteomics flyer (pdf 384 KB)