Cuban scientists are leveraging their platform technology to identify and validate novel drug targets
José A. Acosta, Luis J. González, Ernesto López, Ricardo Silva, Boris Acevedo, Luis Herrera.
Havana - March 29. The drug discovery capability of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotec hnology (CIGB), Havana, Cuba, is being reinforced with the recent implementation of a new method called SCAPE (Selective CApture of PEptides), and the results have been published by J. Proteome Res. 4 : 491-496 (2005).
The philosophy behind the scene has been driven by what scientists called "The 4H: high simplification, high selectivity, high coverage and high recovery of peptides for reliable protein identification". That is: The aim is to reduce the huge number and diversity of peptides generated during the enzymatic digestion of complex mixtures of proteins and facilitate the Mass Spectrometr y ic analysis of, just to a relatively small number of certain peptides present in most of the proteins, and everything is done based on a simple principle of isolation.
SCAPE differs from a general trend on proteomics studies of targeting peptides containing low abundance amino acids. The new approach takes advantage of the differences produced in the charge composition of a proteolytic peptide mixture following the chemical modification of amino groups. The result is a substantial reduction in the complexity of protein digest mixtures down to around 6 peptides per protein . The SCAPE method may be conveniently applied in quantitative proteomics studies.
In addition to an extensive work of protocol design, a few months ago, the CIGB announced the release of the software "Isotopica" for research in the field of Proteomics. Isotopica is a web application , the server that offers free access to several proteomic services can be accessed at through the link http://bioinformatica.cigb.edu.cu , and it offers free access to several proteomic services . .
The CIGB is looking for corporate partnership for joint development from potential partners. The project "Platform for 2DE-free proteome analysis of complex mixture of proteins like whole cell extrac " has been included in the the CIGB's negotiation portfolio, involving 19 biomedical projects, and has been published in the web site http://gndp.cigb.edu.cu , to facilitate the access to the medical community, companies and research institutions to the most up to date R&D advances at the CIGB.
For information: http://gndp.cigb.edu.cu or http://www.cigb.edu.cu
Contact: ernesto.lopez@cigb.edu.cu
Phone: (53-7) 2712397. |
