PEPMIP

Robust affinity materials for applications in proteomics and diagnostics

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'PEPMIP represents a joint European effort involving eleven partners aimed at the development of the next generation of dedicated separation materials, designed to recognize peptides and proteins, and the implementation of these materials in new high performance methods for peptide and protein analysis. Artificial receptors will be developed by various Molecular Imprinting techniques. This will be supplemented by a new class of generic peptide and protein fractionation tools that will be integrated in new formats to produce new protein/peptide separation and detection solutions. The research results will lead to technological advances having a major impact on 1) health care since it will profit from methods involving PEPMIPs for earlier, more reliable diagnosis of diseases, 2) drug discovery allowing a faster target or biomarker identification; and 3) biochemistry research laboratories in resulting in improved protein fractionation tools for revealing low abundant post translational modifications. The training will focus on 10 early stage researchers (ESRs) who, within four work packages, will develop a well-balanced spectrum of scientific, business and entrepreneurial skills that will be particularly attractive to European industry when the ESRs eventually leave PEPMIP.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

European researchers are in the process of developing novel materials to improve disease diagnosis through the detection of protein biomarkers.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Proteins constitute the most abundant and versatile biomolecules present in living cells, properties dictated by the genetic code. Their diverse structure and function is responsible for key cellular processes including metabolism and cell movement.

Proteins are also implicated in many diseases whether genetic, multi-factorial or degenerative. Studying protein function and shape is central for understanding disease and for the discovery of new drugs.

Scientists on the EU-funded PEPMIP (Robust affinity materials for applications in proteomics and diagnostics) project wish to improve existing means of protein analysis through novel materials. These next generation compounds would be designed to recognise peptides and proteins for implementation in protein analysis for conditions such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

One of the key objectives of the PEPMIP consortium is to improve the detection of phosphorylated proteins. In this context they have optimised a method that can be applied to crude cell extracts to selectively enrich and detect a large number of phosphorylated peptides.

Project work has clinical diagnostic relevance as it is directed towards the development of materials for biomarker detection in Alzheimer's disease or small cell lung cancer. So far, materials have been successfully prepared targeting the amyloid beta protein or the recently identified biomarker of small cell lung cancer, progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP). These materials come in the form of composites, micro- or nanoparticles. Using a thin composite film, scientists successfully detected ProGRP in serum samples.

The urgent need for reliable and sensitive diagnostic methods for prompt disease prediction makes the technological advances of the PEPMIP study invaluable. The integration of the generated materials on chip devices should lead to high-throughput and robust diagnostic tools.