Proteomics: applications in basic and applied biology

The rapid evolution of proteomics has continued during the past year, with a series of innovations in the core technologies of two-dimensional electro phoresis and mass spectrometry, and a diversity of productive research prog rammes. Well-annotated proteomics databases are now emerging in a number of fields to provide a platform for systematic research, with particularly pr omising progress in clinical applications such as cardiology and oncology. Large-scale quantitative research, comparable in power and sensitivity to t hat achieved for gene expression, is thus becoming a reality at the protein level.