Max
07-22-2002, 12:08 PM
UK Scientists in Bid to Map Human Proteins
Mon Jul 22, 1:50 PM ET
By Richard Woodman
LONDON (Reuters) - A new initiative to map the human body in greater detail and faster than ever before was announced by British scientists and industrialists on Monday.
The Medical Research Council (MRC), the Department of Trade and Industry and biotech firm Genetix Group Plc said they had formed a 2.5 million pound collaboration to dramatically speed up the process of identifying the role of proteins in human health and disease.
Scientists reckon the human genome ( news - web sites), which was mapped in draft form two years ago, contains at least 30,000 genes, each one of which serve as instruction manuals for building the proteins that make our bodies function.
The new three-year project is designed to help answer the next key question--how these proteins interact with each other as they help run millions of human cells.
Since every single cell contains thousands of different proteins it is a daunting task. The scientists said more than one billion bits of data would need to be analyzed.
"The ultimate aim is to have maps showing how proteins interact with each other in both the healthy and diseased state," Genetix scientific director Dr. Julian Burke told Reuters.
He said the Hampshire-based company, which provided robotic systems for the human genome project ( news - web sites), was investing over one million pounds to develop equipment and systems that would elucidate these interactions "faster and more accurately than anyone else."
As with the genome project, all the findings will be in the public domain, but Burke said the company should gain a bigger slice of the market for molecular research equipment.
Dr. Chris Sanderson, the MRC's project co-ordinator in Cambridge, said that the process of generating maps could turn into a race but it would be important to ensure that quality was not sacrificed.
He added: "The final map will be a composite of data generated by different groups worldwide. This funding will ensure that UK researchers can play a significant part in that process."
A number of biotech companies around the world are investing in building up proteome research, often in collaboration with companies able to provide the massive data processing capacity required.
International Business Machines Corp, for example, is working with Canada's MDS Inc to build a network database of proteins, while Myriad Genetics Inc has a joint venture with Oracle Corp and Hitachi Ltd.
Mon Jul 22, 1:50 PM ET
By Richard Woodman
LONDON (Reuters) - A new initiative to map the human body in greater detail and faster than ever before was announced by British scientists and industrialists on Monday.
The Medical Research Council (MRC), the Department of Trade and Industry and biotech firm Genetix Group Plc said they had formed a 2.5 million pound collaboration to dramatically speed up the process of identifying the role of proteins in human health and disease.
Scientists reckon the human genome ( news - web sites), which was mapped in draft form two years ago, contains at least 30,000 genes, each one of which serve as instruction manuals for building the proteins that make our bodies function.
The new three-year project is designed to help answer the next key question--how these proteins interact with each other as they help run millions of human cells.
Since every single cell contains thousands of different proteins it is a daunting task. The scientists said more than one billion bits of data would need to be analyzed.
"The ultimate aim is to have maps showing how proteins interact with each other in both the healthy and diseased state," Genetix scientific director Dr. Julian Burke told Reuters.
He said the Hampshire-based company, which provided robotic systems for the human genome project ( news - web sites), was investing over one million pounds to develop equipment and systems that would elucidate these interactions "faster and more accurately than anyone else."
As with the genome project, all the findings will be in the public domain, but Burke said the company should gain a bigger slice of the market for molecular research equipment.
Dr. Chris Sanderson, the MRC's project co-ordinator in Cambridge, said that the process of generating maps could turn into a race but it would be important to ensure that quality was not sacrificed.
He added: "The final map will be a composite of data generated by different groups worldwide. This funding will ensure that UK researchers can play a significant part in that process."
A number of biotech companies around the world are investing in building up proteome research, often in collaboration with companies able to provide the massive data processing capacity required.
International Business Machines Corp, for example, is working with Canada's MDS Inc to build a network database of proteins, while Myriad Genetics Inc has a joint venture with Oracle Corp and Hitachi Ltd.