E ditor - in - chief
editorial
William S. Hancock
Barnett Institute and Department of Chemistry Northeastern University 360 Huntington Ave. 341 Mugar Bldg. Boston, MA 02115 617-373-4881; fax 617-373-2855
[email protected] Associate E ditors Joshua LaBaer Harvard Medical School György Marko-Varga AstraZeneca and Lund University Cons u lting E ditor Jeremy Nicholson Imperial College London E ditorial adv isory board Ruedi H. Aebersold ETH Hönggerberg Leigh Anderson Plasma Proteome Institute Ettore Appella U.S. National Cancer Institute Rolf Apweiler European Bioinformatics Institute Ronald Beavis Manitoba Centre for Proteomics John J. M. Bergeron McGill University Richard Caprioli Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Christine Colvis U.S. National Institutes of Health R. Graham Cooks Purdue University Thomas E. Fehniger AstraZeneca Catherine Fenselau University of Maryland Daniel Figeys University of Ottawa Sam Hanash Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Stanley Hefta Bristol-Myers Squibb Denis Hochstrasser University of Geneva Michael J. Hubbard University of Melbourne Donald F. Hunt University of Virginia Barry L. Karger Northeastern University Daniel C. Liebler Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Matthias Mann Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry David Muddiman North Carolina State University Robert F. Murphy Carnegie Mellon University Gilbert S. Omenn University of Michigan Aran Paulus Bio-Rad Laboratories Jasna Peter-Katalini´c University of Muenster Clifford H. Spiegelman Texas A&M University Ruth VanBogelen Pfizer Global Research & Development Peter Wagner Zyomyx Scot R. Weinberger GenNext Technologies Keith Williams Proteome Systems John R. Yates, III The Scripps Research Institute
© 2006 American Chemical Society
Big Science and Proteomics
T
hought leaders in the proteomics field, such as Lee Hartwell and Leroy Hood, suggest that a need exists to assemble large groups of scientists to study the complex problems of human disease. On the other hand, proteomics is in an early stage of development and, therefore, needs innovation from the wealth of small laboratories that are run by individual investigators. How can we combine the needs of big science with the strengths of traditional research? Do we need to create new organizations that bring together teams of scientists in disciplines ranging from math to medicine? This is an ambitious goal, particularly in an era of declining research budgets. Another approach is to put together funding proposals that encourage groups of scientists to focus on big science in disciplined teams. The new funding initiative on proteomics technology from the National Cancer Institute, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is an example of this approach. It’s called the Clinical Proteomic Technologies Initiative for Cancer, and it is designed to build integrative teams and to network research laboratories so that they may share protein measurement technologies and biological resources and disseminate data on a large scale and in real time. Such programs are important to the development of the field, and we, the Journal of Proteome Research staff, offer our support and encouragement.
Journal of Proteome Research • Vol. 5, No. 5, 2006 1039
