Neuroproteomics

In this, the post-genomic age, our knowledge of biological systems continues to expand and progress. As the research becomes more focused, so too does the data. Genomic research progresses to proteomics and brings us to a deeper understanding of the behavior and function of protein clusters. And now proteomics gives way to neuroproteomics as we begin to unravel the complex mysteries of neurological diseases that less than a generation ago seemed opaque to our inquiries, if not altogether intractable.

Edited by Dr. Oscar Alzate, Neuroproteomics is the newest volume in the CRC Press Frontiers of Neuroscience Series. With an extensive background in mathematics and physics, Dr. Alzate exemplifies the newest generation of biological systems researchers. He organizes research and data contributed from all across the world to present an overview of neuroproteomics that is practical and progressive.

Bolstered by each new discovery, researchers employing multiple methods of inquiry gain a deeper understanding of the key biological problems related to brain function, brain structure, and the complexity of the nervous system. This in turn is leading to new understanding about diseases of neurological deficit such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Approaches discussed in the book include mass spectrometry, electrophoresis, chromatography, surface plasmon resonance, protein arrays, immunoblotting, computational proteomics, and molecular imaging. Writing about their own work, leading researchers detail the principles, approaches, and difficulties of the various techniques, demonstrating the questions that neuroproteomics can answer and those it raises.

New challenges wait, not the least of which is the identification of potential methods to regulate the structures and functions of key protein interaction networks. Ultimately, those building on the foundation presented here will advance our understanding of the brain and show us ways to abate the suffering caused by neurological and mental diseases.

Dr. Oscar Alzate currently holds the position of associate professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, North Carolina). He is also the director of the UNC Systems Proteomics Center. His interests include the application of neuroproteomics to the elucidation of molecular pathways and protein interaction networks using animal models for neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Alzate, a molecular biophysicist, has developed proteomics laboratories for the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute at the Ohio State University, the Neuroproteomics Laboratory at Duke University, and the Proteomics Laboratory at the Pontifical Bolivariana University in his native Colombia. His passion is playing with proteins, trying to develop better ways to isolate, identify, and characterize proteins using combinations of all available biophysical techniques. Dr. Alzate’s search for functional protein interaction networks in cell cultures, primary cells, and mouse and human tissue in order to develop models of neurological diseases utilizes differential-display proteomics, mass spectrometry, iTRAQ, protein arrays, MALDI-based tissue imaging, and computational proteomics. In addition to his own research program, he is involved in more than 20 collaborative projects that include the neurobiology of synapses; neuroproteomics of the auditory and visual systems, and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases, as well as epilepsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.