Proteomics in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry: a look to the next decade

Abstract

Introduction: Pioneering technologies such as proteomics have helped fuel the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry with the discovery of novel targets and an intricate understanding of the activity of therapeutics and their various activities in vitro and in vivo. The field of proteomics is undergoing an inflection point, where new sensitive technologies are allowing intricate biological pathways to be better understood, and novel biochemical tools are pivoting us into a new era of chemical proteomics and biomarker discovery. In this review, we describe these areas of innovation, and discuss where the fields are headed in terms of fueling biotechnological and pharmacological research and discuss current gaps in the proteomic technology landscape.

Areas covered: Single cell sequencing and single molecule sequencing. Chemoproteomics. Biological matrices and clinical samples including biomarkers. Computational tools including instrument control software, data analysis.

Expert opinion: Proteomics will likely remain a key technology in the coming decade, but will have to evolve with respect to type and granularity of data, cost and throughput of data generation as well as integration with other technologies to fulfill its promise in drug discovery.

Keywords: Biological mass spectrometry; Proteomics; biomarkers; chemoproteomics; multi-omics; sensitivity; single cell proteomics; single protein sequencing.