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Comparative Proteomics Center
Department of Biological Sciences
Background

The proteome is the expressed protein complement of a cell, matrix, organelle, tissue, organ, or organism.  It includes all isoforms and posttranslational variants and varies with time. The overall technical approach in proteomics was enabled by two major technical advances: the ability to fully sequence genomes and the ability to analyze proteins by mass spectrometry.  Comparative proteomics defines the differences in expression of proteins among different biological states (e.g., control vs. treatment, healthy vs. disease, specific genotype vs. wild type).  The Department of Biological Sciences of Columbia University has established the Comparative Proteomics Center to apply these emerging technologies to a wide range of biomedical research studies.  The major technical approach of the center is to use fluorescence tagging of protein, gel electrophoresis, laser imaging and mass spectrometry to detect differential expression of proteins.
Blue laser
(488 nm)
Green laser
(532 nm)
Red laser
(632.8 nm)
Differential expression of tagged proteins is detected on a gel by laser fluorescence in three discrete channels.  These proteins are subsequently identified by mass spectrometry and...
...we have applied this technique to many different research problems.