Human Antibody Initiative
Overview of Project
This Initiative aims to promote and facilitate the use of antibodies for proteomics research. The initiative consists of two separate activities; (1) the generation of a catalogue of validated antibodies from many different sources and (2) a protein atlas for the expression and localization of human proteins in normal and disease tissue. The two separate activities have as their primary deliverables to generate databases with free public accessibility.
The Antibody Resource database is aimed to produce a comprehensive catalogue of validated antibodies towards human proteins. This initiative depends on input from a large number of academic groups and commercial companies. The pilot phase will be initiated Q3 2005. By Q1 2007, we anticipate starting the "production phase" with the objective of having quarterly releases of all approved data (the data will be approved by a designated curator).
The Protein Atlas initiative aims to provide a comprehensive, annotated database of high-resolution images containing tissue profiles of normal and cancer tissues. The first release of the database will be at the fourth Annual HUPO Conference (August 2005 in Munich) with 300,000 images representing 600 human proteins. An updated release of the database will be done thereafter in conjunction with the annual HUPO conference with at least 500,000 additional images (1000 proteins) each time. Both databases will be open to the public without restriction (no passwords).
The overall, long-term goal of this Initiative is to, within 10 years, generate a uniform antibody collections against every human protein (non-redundant set) and to use these reagents to functionally explore the corresponding proteins, protein variants (isoforms) and protein interactions.
Collaborations with other Initiatives
- Antibodies developed in the Plasma Proteome Project will be included in the database
- Antibodies included in our database will be used to cross reference those for several of the subprojects in the Human Liver Proteome Project (HLPP). In addition, any antibodies created in the HLPP will be added to our database.
Future meetings with dedicated sessions
HUPO 7th Annual World Congress, Amsterdam 2008 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Key Documents Related to Activities
- Agenda for the 5th HAI Workshop HUPO 7th Annual World Congress, Amsterdam 2008
- Notes from the 4th HAI Workshop, October 7, 2007 in Seoul
- Agenda for the 4th HAI Workshop HUPO 6th Annual World Congress, Seoul 2007
- Agenda for the August 27, 2005 HAI Workshop
- Agenda for the October 29, 2006 HAI Workshop
- Proposal to HUPO council, April 2005
- Reference: Uhlen M, Ponten F. Antibody-based Proteomics for Human Tissue Profiling. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2005 Apr;4(4):384-393
Website Link
www.proteinatlas.org (from August 29, 2005)


