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| ProteomeBinders at Alpbach, March 2007 |
is a European consortium proposing to establish a comprehensive infrastructure resource of binding molecules for detection of the human proteome,
together with tools for their use and applications in studying proteome function and organisation.
This 4-year FP6 Research Infrastructures Coordination Action, started in March 2006,
is funded with 1.8 M€ and links 25 EU and 2 USA partners, leaders in the area of binders
and their applications. The project is coordinated by Dr Mike Taussig (Cambridge). We advocate the organisation of an infrastructure of binders, available
at cost and with no restrictions for research use, for which we are applying for funding under FP7.
Currently there is no pan-European platform for the systematic development and
quality control for these essential reagents. We aim to provide a set of consistently
characterised binders, required to detect all the relevant human proteins in tissues and
fluids in health and disease. As the size of the human proteome is at least an order of
magnitude greater than the ~ 21.000 protein coding genes known to date, and as for many
applications several binders against each target are needed, the scale of our project is
potentially immense.
To date, antibodies are the most widely used protein-binders, but
novel binder types based on alternative protein scaffolds, nucleic acids, peptides and
chemical entities each have significant advantages and will be carefully evaluated.
We will coordinate a European resource by integrating existing infrastructures, reviewing
technologies and high-throughput production methods, standardising tools and applications,
and establishing a database.
Being one of the largest genome-scale projects in Europe,
aiming ultimately to produce and collect hundreds of thousands of specific binders, the
ProteomeBinders resource will bring huge benefits for basic and applied research, impacting
on healthcare, diagnostics, target discovery for drug intervention and therapeutics.
For a quick overview of ProtemeBinders aims and achievements, download our brochure.