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HUPO 2017 Abstract Extension

Abstract submissions to the 16th Human Proteome Organization World Congress have been extended to 3 May 2017. Read more >

ECR Manuscript Competition 

The Early Career Researcher (ECR) Initiative of the Human Proteome Organization is pleased to announce the 3rd ECR Manuscript Competition to take place at HUPO 2017 in Dublin! Deadline 5 June 2017. Read more > 

PhD Abstract Competition

Once again, HUPO is holding a PhD Abstract Competition. 8 abstracts will be selected based on excellence to have a short oral presentation at HUPO 2017 in Dublin. Deadline 3 May 2017. Read more >

HUPO Elections

HUPO is seeking candidates to serve on the HUPO Council for three-year terms beginning January 2018 (2018-2020). We invite you to nominate yourself and other scientists from your region. Deadline 30 April 2017. Read more >

Editor's Note

Welcome to the new HUPOST! As Emma Lundberg, our much-appreciated outgoing Editor, announced in the previous HUPOST, we updated the format for 2017. Key points are now included in the email, and our circulation has broadened to reach an even wider audience. HUPOST’s frequency has also increased to every two months, alternating between a short and snappy overview of current news, and an extended version that covers interesting developments in the field of proteomics.

Speaking of interesting developments, allow me to remind you that the HUPO 2017 World Congress in Dublin on 17-21 September is now only 5 months away! Abstract submissions will now be accepted until 3 May, so you can still join us and share your latest work. I very much look forward to hearing about it, and to meeting you, on the Emerald Isle in September!

Meanwhile, enjoy the new HUPOST, and make sure to let us know at office@hupo.org when you have something to share! As always, you can find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Cheers, Lennart Martens - HUPOST Editor

President's Message

There has never been a more exciting time for proteomics. We can rapidly measure thousands of molecules and posttranslational modifications, and there are large initiatives such as the Cancer Moonshot and Gene-Tissue Expression Project in which proteomics will make an important contribution. As technological advances continue proteomics will play an increasing role in large-scale influential projects.

A valuable part of all of these efforts is the Human Proteome Project (HPP; 1) which aims to map the proteome parts lists: protein coding genes, splice and allelic isoforms. It also aims to advance the proteomics of a wide range of human biology and disease, for example, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer. With respect to the latter, we are assembling a list of popular proteins for each major human disease (2).

The HUPOST is HUPO’s forum for disseminating advances in our field. We hope to keep the community abreast of the latest advances and technologies.

Cheers, Mike Snyder - HUPO President

1) Advances of the HUPO Human Proteome Project with broad applications for life sciences research. Omenn GS. Expert Rev Proteomics. 2017 Feb;14(2):109-111. doi: 10.1080/14789450.2017.1270763. Epub 2016 Dec 22. No abstract available. PMID: 27935328

2) Data-Driven Approach To Determine Popular Proteins for Targeted Proteomics Translation of Six Organ Systems. Lam MP, Venkatraman V, Xing Y, Lau E, Cao Q, Ng DC, Su AI, Ge J, Van Eyk JE, Ping P. J Proteome Res. 2016 Nov 4;15(11):4126-4134. Epub 2016 Jul 19. PMID: 27356587

Dear HUPO Members,

I am seeking candidates to serve on the HUPO Council for a three-year term that will begin January 2018 (2018-2020).

Each Councilor must be a current HUPO member who is a scientist from the public or private sector with at least ten (10) years of professional experience in educational, research or commercial activities related to the purposes of HUPO. We invite you to nominate yourself or other scientists from your region - Central region (Europe/Africa), Eastern region (Asia/Oceania), and Western region (Pan-America). Please check with your nominee to be sure they are willing to stand for election.

To nominate a colleague or yourself please complete the 2017 Elections Nomination Form (available here) and submit it to office@hupo.org before 30 April 2017.

If you nominate a colleague please note they will be asked to confirm their willingness to stand for election. The current council list can be found here.  

Thank you for your support,

Henning Hermjakob

Chair, HUPO Nominations and Election Committee

• 2017 HUPO Council Nomination Form
  
• Deadline to receive nominations: 30 April 2017

Dear HUPO Members,

The Human Proteome Organization is pleased to the announce the HUPO-endorsed Cardiovascular Initiative Workshop. The workshop features outstanding scientists from across the HUPO/HPP community. View the programme online.

The workshop takes place on 2 April 2017, during the Proteomic Forum in Potsdam, Germany. For more information, and to register, visit http://www.proteomic-forum.de/ or contact dgpf@conventus.de.

Best wishes, 

Christoph Borchers

Chair, HUPO Marketing Committee

      

The Human Proteome Organization presents awards annually at the World Congress. The HUPO 2017 World Congress is in Dublin from September 17-21. Award recipients will present a brief talk during the Congress award ceremony. These distinguished awards recognize the outstanding efforts of individuals (or groups) advancing the field of proteomics. Nominations are done through an online submission form and no supporting documents or attachments are required.

You are invited to nominate award candidates! 

Nomination Deadline: April 17, 2017 

Nomination Requirements

HUPO is now accepting nominations for the following awards:

Distinguished Achievement in Proteomic Sciences Award ($3000, sponsored by Journal of Proteome Research - ACS Publications) recognizes a scientist for distinguished scientific achievements in the field of proteomic science. 

Discovery in Proteomic Sciences Award ($3000, sponsored by Journal of Proteomics - Elsevier BV) recognizes a scientist for a single discovery in the field of proteomics. 

Science and Technology Award ($3000, sponsored by the HUPO Industrial Advisory Board) recognizes an individual, or team (of up to three people) in private industry who played a key role in commercialization of a proteomics technology, product or procedure. The emphasis for the award is on making the technology, product or procedure widely available, which is different from the basic scientific invention. 

Clinical and Translational Proteomics Award ($3000, sponsored by Clinical Proteomics - BioMedCentral) recognizes a scientist for distinguished scientific achievements in the field of clinical and translational proteomics. 

Distinguished Service Award ($3000, sponsored by HUPO) recognizes an exemplary member of the proteomic research community whose dedicated service has made indispensable contributions to the organization and mission of HUPO. 

A real success story of international collaboration through HUPO was the launch of the International Cancer Proteogenome Consortium (ICPC) during the 2016 HUPO Congress in Taipei.

Story by Michelle Hill, B/D-HPP Newsletter Editor

Some of the ICPC representatives at HUPO 2016 in Taipei. From left: Daehee Hwang (South Korea), Ruedi Aebersold (Switzerland), Christoph Borchers (Canada), Henry Rodriguez (USA), Albert Sickmann (Germany), Mark Baker (Australia), Chia-Jung Yu, Yu-Ju Chen, Min Daw Tsai, Chen-Yang Shen (Taiwan).

This exciting development was grounded on ongoing collaboration between the Cancer Initiative of the B/D-HPP and the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) of The United States National Cancer Institute (NCI), and nurtured through years of work at HUPO Congresses. Following the first announcement in Australia in July 2016, an additional 7 countries now joins the initiative to form the International Cancer Proteogenome Consortium (ICPC). This is a real success story of international collaboration catalyzed by HUPO. Two of the leaders tell of the story.

Read the full story in the B/D-HPP Newsletter | Issue 1, 2017 

Media Release from Macquarie University - 23 January 2017

• The newly released MissingProteinPedia database collates information about proteins in unprecedented ways, allowing Human Proteome Project scientists to gain a deeper understanding of how our proteins work together to make every human an individual.
• While about 20,000 genes code for proteins in the human body, the new database is aiding in the identification of 2,949 “missing” human proteins that are still waiting in the wings and are yet to be proven to exist by high fidelity measurements.
• The database, made by scientists at Macquarie, will be a powerful tool in helping all researchers pinpoint every protein found in the human body and how these interact, with potential repercussions for better understanding many diseases.

The Bioinformatics Hub is a place where bioinformaticians gather together with three aims: (i) to provide their advice, knowledge, and support to anyone with a relevant question; (ii) to discuss current issues and challenges in proteomics informatics with the entire community; and (iii) to work on interesting, synergistic projects and to freely exchange tools, algorithms and know-how with each other, across all labs, seniorities and levels of experience.

The Bioinformatics Hub at the HUPO 2016 World Congress in Taipei was highly successful in bringing together many researchers interested in computational proteomics and bioinformatics to discuss topics important in the field. The hub was open daily from 8:30 – 5:30 during the congress, and the on-line program dynamically updated hourly with ongoing activities. Some of the more prominent topics addressed included discussions over the HPP Data Interpretation Guidelines v2.1, The HPP 50 Missing Protein Challenge, the proposed JPR Bioinformatics/Computational Resources Special Issue, use of preprint servers for computational proteomics manuscripts, MissingProteinPedia, privacy implications of proteomics data, OmicsDI, glycoproteomics informatics, quality control formats, and proteogenomics data file formats. Work on these topics will proceed based on these discussions, and we look forward to another exciting Bioinformatics Hub at next year's HUPO World Congress. See the Bioinformatics Hub web site for more information: https://github.com/CompMS/Overview/wiki/HUPO-2016

-Written by Eric Deutsch, Yves Vandenbrouck and Lennart Martens

HUPO Chromosome-Centric Human Proteome Project (C-HPP) has recently published its 4th Special Issue of the Journal of Proteome Research (http://pubs.acs.org/toc/jprobs/15/11) which carries a total of 18 papers. This special issue highlights the progress on the C-HPP and its related projects in many aspects such as HPP Mass Spectrometry Data Interpretation Guidelines, 2016 HPP Metrics, Discovery of 267 Missing Proteins (currently 2930 proteins) and other biological aspects of newly identified proteins encoded by human chromosomes. 

“We are delighted to be part of this CPTAC initiative and to be able to contribute to this important project.  The University of Victoria-Genome BC Proteomics Centre will continue to develop MRM assays according to the CPTAC guidelines and upload them to the CPTAC portal.  In addition, we intend to further develop these CPTAC MRM assays as validated kits to facilitate their use by the broader scientific community.” – Dr. Christoph Borchers, Ph.D., Director of the University of Victoria Genome BC Proteomics Centre, Canada

“We are excited to align forces with Christoph to provide open source, highly characterized, targeted MS assays to the community.  The ability to reliably quantify proteins is a critical next step towards making the genome actionable and improving our understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases.  ” – Dr. Amanda Paulovich, Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and co-Chair of the CPTAC Assay Development Working Group

“This generous contribution and future commitment by Christoph at the University of Victoria Genome British Columbia Proteomics Centre to deposit well-characterized, targeted MS assays into CPTAC’s Community Assay Portal which employ an experimental/analytical fit-for-purpose approach, will accelerate the evolution from genomics to proteomics.” – Dr. Henry Rodriguez, Director of the Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health

The below press release was sent by the NCI Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research on August 29, 2016.

University of Victoria Genome British Columbia Proteomics Centre, a leader in proteomic technology development, has partnered with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) to make targeted proteomic assays accessible to the community through NCI’s CPTAC Assay Portal (https://assays.cancer.gov).

A key aspect of the Assay Portal is to provide space where national and international proteomics researchers from across the globe can upload and share their quantitative assays with standard operating procedures and guidelines. To meet this goal, NCI is continuing to improve the assay upload process to have an independent process for public/non-CPTAC teams to upload their assays in a seamless fashion and will provide update on this effort to the community as it comes available.

Targeted proteomic assays eliminate issues that are commonly observed using conventional protein detection systems (e.g. Western blotting), which are semi-quantitative at best, not readily multiplexed, and often non-specific. Until recently, non-standardized information for hundreds of targeted mass spectrometry-based assays was distributed across published journal articles. The CPTAC assay portal serves as a centralized public repository of highly characterized targeted MS assays, including standard operating protocols, reagents, and assay characterization data.

Dr. Christoph Borchers, Ph.D., Director of the University of Victoria Genome BC Proteomics Centre, Canada, has volunteered to be the first non-CPTAC researcher to upload targeted mass spectrometry-based assays to the portal. These multiple reaction monitoring (MRM-MS)-based assays fully adhere to the standards and guidelines developed by CPTAC and meet the minimum characterization requirements for entry to the portal, including development of multipoint response curve and repeatability assessment. In the portal landing page, which is designed to be relevant to biologists, researchers will be able to search for the Proteomics Centre assays by querying using the “non-CPTAC” term. Dr. Borchers has contributed 107 MRM assays to the portal in this initial phase, and is working on completing up to 2,000 assays that will be ultimately imported to the CPTAC Assay Portal.

“We are delighted to be working with the CPTAC on this important project,” says Dr. Borchers. “Standardization of protein quantitation is essential if mass spectrometry-based proteomics is going to be used for clinical assays. To assist in cancer-related research, we are planning to greatly extend the range of our MRM based assays in CPTAC to include assays for mouse proteins. The mouse is the preferred animal model for studying cancer, and will become even more important through the new CRISPR/Cas9 technology, which greatly facilitates the research of genetic mutations of cancer-related proteins in mice at a low cost.”

Dr. Amanda Paulovich, a Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and co-Chair of the CPTAC Assay Development Working Group, notes that, “We are excited to take this important first step in opening up the Assay Portal for contributions from the entire community, bringing us one step closer to the goal of standardizing quantification of all proteins across the community to improve analytical rigor and reproducibility in protein-based research.”

Background
To empower researchers and democratize protein measurements, NCI launched the proteomics Assay Portal in 2014. This community web-based repository for well-characterized quantitative proteomic assays which was highlighted in a landmark paper in Nature Methods currently consists of greater than 900 targeted assays and serves as a public resource of methodologies and data related to cancer associated targets. By incorporating guidelines for assay characterization, the CPTAC Assay Portal takes a leap forward in enabling researchers to assess the performance of each assay as well as downloading all the data and information for implementing the assays. The ultimate goal is to standardize protein quantification and harmonize results across laboratories, improving our ability to validate molecular signatures and the reproducibility of preclinical research, as well as facilitating the regulatory approval of new drugs and diagnostics.

The Assay Portal also represents the application of “best practices” for targeted mass spectrometry developed during a two day-workshop held at the National Institutes of Health and published in 2014 in the journal of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. In this workshop CPTAC, with input from the outside community that included the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and American Association for Clinical Chemistry, established a framework for MRM assay ‘fit-for purpose’ validation by defining three tiers of assays distinguished by their performance and extent of analytical characterization. Assays presented on the CPTAC portal predominantly represent ‘Tier 2’ assays, as described in the workshop report.

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THE POWER OF RESEARCH COLLABORATION
About the University of Victoria Genome British Columbia Proteomics Centre 
The University of Victoria Genome BC Proteomics Centre is a state-of-the-art proteomics research facility located at the University of Victoria’s Vancouver Island Technology Park in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Supported by Genome Canada, Genome BC and the University of Victoria, the Centre is the best-equipped proteomics research facility in Canada, with $10 million worth of specialized equipment including 16 mass spectrometers. The Centre is a not-for-profit facility that operates on a cost recovery model. It is the longest operating proteomics core facility in Canada, having been in operation since 1982, and serves clients in academia, industry and government on a fee-for-service and collaborative basis.

About National Cancer Institute’s CPTAC
The National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) is a comprehensive and coordinated effort to accelerate the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of large-scale proteome and genome analysis technologies (proteogenomics) to different cancer types. CPTAC is composed of expertise in proteomics, genomics, cancer biology, oncology and clinical chemistry, while creating open community resources that are widely used by the cancer community. For further information about CPTAC, go to http://proteomics.cancer.gov.

The 2016 HUPO Council Election results were announced at the General Assembly of Members on September 19, 2016 in Taipei during HUPO 2016. Council terms are three years and will extend from January 2017 to December 2019. We are pleased to congratulate the following future HUPO councilors. 

Eastern Region

Yasushi Ishihama (Japan)

Terence Poon (Macau)

Anthony Purcell (Australia)

Central Region

Bernd Wollscheid (Switzerland)

Martin Larsen (Denmark)

Emma Lundberg (Sweden)

Western Region

Ileana Cristea (USA)

Benjamin Garcia (USA)

Aleksandra Nita-Lazar (USA)

Susan Weintraub (USA)

Diversity Representatives Appointed by Council and Confirmed by Electorate

Sanjeeva Srivastava (India)

Jong Shin Yoo (South Korea)

Ruth Birner-Grünberger (Austria)

Andrea Urbani (Italy)

Gilberto Domont (Brazil)