Tuesday, 15 June 2021 | 2:00 pm – Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA
Director, BIDMC Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, and Systems Biology Center, and DF/HCC Cancer Proteomics Core, Div. of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Biotechnology, Boston, USA
Next Generation Proteomics Driving Precision Medicine
(Host: L. Zerbini)
Proteomics has emerged as the next frontier in precision medicine and several innovative proteomics platforms (SOMAscan, Olink, ScioDiscover, Seer, Nautilus Bio, Quantum-SI, Encodia, Erisyon) have emerged or are under development that are driving biomarker discovery to the next level. We are using the aptamer-based high multiplex SOMAscan and other platforms to discover and independently validate diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic biomarkers for various human diseases. Our efforts are especially focused on non-invasive biomarkers in serum, plasma, urine, and exosomes for a broad range of clinically highly relevant and challenging diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic indications.
The key challenges for biomarker discovery are not the generation of a large dataset, but how to analyze the proteomics data and to generate biomarker models with the highest predictive accuracy. While the majority of diagnostics are still based on single analytes, it is becoming evident that multiplex biomarker panels are more accurate than single analyte diagnostics. Using not only the proteomics data, but also integrating clinical and demographic variables with proteomics data into our modeling strategies further improves predictive or diagnostic performance of risk stratification models. We are developing biomarker models for discriminating NASH from fatty liver disease, different stages of liver fibrosis in NASH, discriminating in IBD Crohn’s disease from ulcerative colitis and IBD from non-IBD, predicting who will develop delirium after surgery as well as identifying biomarkers for early detection of several cancers and from predicting response to immunotherapy.