Session: Advances in Proteomics: New Technologies I

Systematic studies of gene expression patterns play a vital role in understanding the complex interactions associated with the global response of cells, tissues, and organisms to stimuli or mutations. While recent developments have allowed these patterns to be investigated at an unprecedented level of detail, further advances are needed in order to fully illuminate the interplay among the many factors governing cellular response. Specifically, new technologies are needed with the capability of providing quantitative information with greatly enhanced levels of sensitivity and throughput. This session will focus on the development of these proteomic technologies and their application to biotechnology. Of particular interest are papers describing advances in gel-free protein separations, novel protein stains, methods of analyzing membrane proteins, mass spectroscopic methods for resolving mixtures of peptides, high-throughput antibody creation and optimization, the development of protein-detecting microarrays, and other related technologies. Papers are also sought that present research on the application of proteomics to the study of bacterial, animal, and plant cell cultures, and especially proteomic analysis of post-translational modifications.