Translating Proteomics Episode 4 – Single-protein Biomarkers Don’t Cut It

‘Translating Proteomics’ explores the science of proteomics and its growing impact on biological research, biomarker discovery, drug development, food and energy security, and a range of other timely topics. The goal of these conversations is to expose you to important issues in proteomics, deepen your love of science, and prompt you to question assumptions about what may be possible.

Your hosts are Drs. Parag Mallick and Andreas Huhmer of Nautilus Biotechnology. Parag is an Associate Professor at Stanford University whose lab performs systems biology studies that drive precision medicine approaches for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Andreas is a veteran scientist whose industry work has supported thousands of proteomics researchers by helping to bring the latest mass spec technologies into their labs.

All Translating Proteomics episode links

Ep 1 – Poised for a Proteomics Breakthrough
Ep 2 – Putting Proteomics to Work
Ep 3 – Biology in Space and Time
Ep 4 – Single-protein Biomarkers Don’t Cut It (You’re here)
Ep 5 – Why the Dogma around Biology’s Central Dogma Is Wrong
Ep 6 – The Future of AI in Biomedicine
Ep 7 – Harnessing Proteoforms to Understand Life’s Complexity
Ep 8 – Expanding the Druggable Universe with Proteomics

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Episode 4 – Single-protein Biomarkers Don’t Cut It

Protein biomarkers are proteins measured as indicators of biological processes. People often hope biomarkers will take the form of elevated or decreased amounts of single proteins, but few single protein measurements provide specific and sensitive indications of biological processes. In this episode of Translating Proteomics, Parag and Andreas discuss why it is difficult to find new biomarkers and describe how new techniques can enable the development of multi-protein, multi-time point, and even multiomic biomarkers that have more potential than any single protein measurement.

Chapters:

00:00 – What are biomarkers and why are they hard to find?

06:40 – What makes a good biomarker?

13:35 – How we can move beyond single-protein/single measurement biomarkers

Some key points of discussion:

• Biomarkers are difficult to find because of the methods we use to find them and because there is a ton of variability in natural biological systems
• Most proteins are biomarkers
• We need more proteome-scale data over space and time to find new biomarkers

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