Proteins may be studied in a life science research setting (proteomics) or as a tool for diagnosing and guiding the treatment of disease (diagnostics).
The study of proteins and their interactions within a biological system is termed proteomics. The identity, concentration and variant of a protein within a system gives biologists information about how the genome has been expressed within that system and under those conditions. The proteome will vary between organisms, between cell types within that organism, and even between two cells of the same type within the same organism.
In diagnostics, the presence and concentration of a specific protein in human tissue may be used to diagnose disease, to monitor disease progress and to guide treatment decisions.
Currently, the process of protein biomarker discovery, validation and assay (diagnostic) development uses two dominant technologies: Mass spectrometry and immunoassays. There remain challenges in both techniques.
Nanopores for protein analysis
Oxford Nanopore is developing the GridION system for the direct, electronic analysis of proteins. The method uses ligand-protein complexes to identify the presence of a target protein in solution. This method may be employed whether the user is involved in protein discovery/validation or wishes to develop a diagnostic device to assay the resulting biomarker.