World's first comprehensive proteomics map of multicellular organism
CuraGen Corporation, a genomics-based US pharmaceutical company, has completed the world's first comprehensive protein interaction map for a multicellular organism, the Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster). This was in collaboration with researchers at The Johns Hopkins University, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and Yale University School of Medicine. The results are published online in Science (www.sciencexpress.org)
Insight into the highly complex pathways of the organism's protein-protein interactions published in this report, combined with CuraGen's proprietary knowledge of human protein-protein interactions, enhanced the company's ability to select promising novel targets for drug development and continues to support CuraGen's preclinical and clinical development efforts through the identification of biomarkers.
CuraGen was the first to complete a proteomics map of a eukaryotic organism, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), in collaboration with Dr Stanley Fields, University of Washington. 'Due to this work on the fly and complemented by our work in human proteomics, CuraGen has a pipeline of therapeutics that is the direct result of knowledge gained from systematically incorporating genomics, proteomics, and the understanding of disease pathways into the drug development process. We now use this knowledge to support our clinical efforts, to help our products get into the clinic, and to evaluate other companies' products,' stated Dr Jonathan Rothberg, ceo, president and chairman of CuraGen. 'As the discovery phases of our work have been completed for some time now, we wanted to make this information publicly available to enable other researchers to make use of this valuable information.' CuraGen retains exclusive access to a similar set of human protein-protein interaction data.
'The Science publication is a real tour de force in systems biology,' said Dr Richard Lifton, chairman, CuraGen's scientific advisory board and chairman, department of Genetics and professor of internal medicine, Yale University School of Medicine. 'The vast amount of important new information reported in this paper will provide researchers around the globe with productive avenues to pursue for years to come. Much of our understanding of the complex biochemical pathways that underlie human disease has been derived from the study of Drosophila melanogaster, and having the opportunity to integrate this huge proteomic dataset with prior knowledge of this well- studied organism will be a boon to the understanding of normal biology, as well as human disease.'