Biological Sciences Division
Research Highlights
October 2011
PNNL Chosen as a Premier Proteomics Center for Cancer
Lab resources will benefit the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been named one of five premier proteomics centers in the nation to study protein changes associated with cancer. The National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, picked the lab as part of the launch of the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium, or CPTAC.
Chemist Thomas Fillmore is shown with the PNNL-developed ion-funnel technology that is being used by PNNL's Center for Application of Advanced Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer, one of five premier proteomics centers named by the National Cancer Institute to study protein changes associated with cancer.
Battelle Fellow Dr. Richard (Dick) Smith and Laboratory Fellow Dr. Karin Rodland are the lead researchers for the PNNL Center for Application of Advanced Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer. They will guide the research to identify rare proteins in various cancers as well as determine how certain treatments work for breast cancer. Currently, some of the standard forms of treatment include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy. The research is funded by NIH at $15 million over the next five years.
PNNL scientists will use proteomics instruments developed at EMSL, a Department of Energy national scientific user facility at PNNL, to study the expressed proteins and their modified forms in tumors that have been analyzed as part of the NCI's Cancer Genome Atlas. The goal of their research is to develop biomarkers that can be used to guide personalized therapies for individual patients.
By combining genomic and proteomic information, the CPTAC will be able to characterize the protein changes involved in cancer and identify those that prevent cells from functioning as they should. Researchers will work to identify rare proteins associated with breast, colon, and ovarian cancer to provide more information about cancer cells and how to detect and treat the disease.
See related information in the Tri-City Herald and on the NCI website.
