News

HUPOSTs have continued to provide a valuable platform for members of the HUPO community to share the latest findings and perspectives. Here are some highlights of HUPOST articles contributed by early career and established proteomics investigators around the globe in the past 18 months:

• Eyeome in the spotlight: Gabriel Velez and Vinit Mahajan at Stanford University report the latest applications using proteomics to guide eye surgery. Human eye fluid biopsies are collected in the operating room to identify the vitreous proteome from patients with neovascular inflammatory vitreoretinopathy, a rare inherited eye disease. The result explains why anti-TNFalpha therapy failed to improve patient outcomes and instead revealed other inflammatory proteins that prompted repurposing of existing drugs to halt neovascularization. Read full article...   

• Spatially resolved map: Geoffrey Hesketh and Anne-Claude Gingras at the University of Toronto provide an informative piece on their recent work to use multiple BioID baits with different known localizations to create a proximity-based spatial map of the cell. BioID uses a mutant BirA protein to create a ‘cloud’ of biotinylation around them. By designing BioID baits that localize to different parts of the cells, the authors and their collaborators created a human cell map which contains high-resolution localization information of over 4000 proteins to distinct cellular locations and can also be used to evaluate changes in organelle proteomes following perturbations. Read more here...

• Metaverse of proteins: Bruno Tilocca and Paola Roncada at the University of Magna Graecia of Catanzaro introduce cutting-edge advances in metaproteomic tools to investigate the world of the microbiota. A DNA-driven custom database enabled proteomics to probe deeper into the functional feature of microbial communities, and also revealed important differences in microbiota architecture than when assessed using only DNA-based methods. These advances have huge potential to benefit diverse areas from cheese-making to public health. Read full article...

• Proteomics in the clinic: Cristina Ruiz-Romero at the Universidad de A Coruña reports impressive progress from the RAD-HPP, including a kit called DITOBA that diagnoses osteoarthritis on the basis of four serum proteins identified from proteomics experiments. In parallel, RAD-HPP investigators identified a specific auto-antibody (anti-CENPF) whose presence in the serum is associated with a positive response of rheumatoid arthritis patients to the TNF inhibitor drug Infliximab. Incorporating anti-CENPF into clinical models improved the prediction of Infliximab responders. Read more here...  

• Demystifying VUS: Daniella Hock, David Thorburn, and David Stroud at the University of Melbourne explain the utility of using quantitative proteomics to help diagnose rare diseases. Congenital diseases that affect mitochondrial energy generation are a common problem. Despite whole-exome and genome sequencing, diagnosis rate remains low because of the presence of variant of uncertain significance (VUS) in genetic findings. The team uses quantitative proteomics to find missing proteins and fusion proteins in the translated product to confirm VUS pathogenicity and find disease-causing genes. Read full article...

• Sugar and protein together: Rebeca Kawahara and Anastasia Chernykh et al. at the Macquarie University recount the Human Glycoproteomics Initiative effort to bring together software developers and expert users to evaluate performance of glycopeptide analysis software. Glycosylation is the most chemically complex post-translational modification but progress remains hindered by the lack of efficient mass spectrometry search engines for glycopeptide identification. By bringing the research community together, the study found several high-performance strategies that may guide future software development.

We are now open for new B/D-HPP HUPOST submission in 2022. We welcome articles on any areas of development and application broadly related to proteomics. Simply reach out to us with a topic or short abstract if you would like to contribute an article to showcase your research, write about recent developments that excite you and issues you care about, or share your thoughts with the worldwide HUPO community. We also encourage articles from early-career students and fellows that are co-authored with their mentors as part of their training in science communication and outreach!