The recent determination that the human genome comprises only approximately 35,000 genes--not 60,000 to 100,000 as previously thought--has directed even more attention to the role of proteins and, therefore, to the field of structural proteomics. One goal of this field is to reveal the structures of all the key "functional" sites of any human protein, which should make it much easier to develop highly specific drugs, thus leading to more effective, and safer, pharmaceuticals. Technological advances in protein structure determination, coupled with the surge of genomic data, will lead to an exponential increase in the number of known protein structures over the next few years. These developments will greatly enhance the importance of the structural proteomics field to drug discovery and development. Consequently, structural-proteomics-based start-ups have attracted substantial venture capital, and the number of such companies has doubled in the last two years. Ultimately, the hope is that the industrialization of structural proteomics will increase the number of valuable drug targets available. In the nearer term, we anticipate that this new structure data will support the development of downstream activities, particularly those directed at lead refinement or increasing the efficiency of screening. This report examines the role of structural proteomics in drug and diagnostic discovery and development, the most critical scientific and technological issues in this field, and the commercial opportunities.
Editorial Advisory Board:
Rachelle J. Bienstock, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health; Gaetano T. Montelione, Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium and Rutgers University; Greg Petsko, Brandeis University; Chris Sander, MIT Genome Center; Alan Williamson, Consultant; Ian Wilson, Joint Center for Structural Genomics, the Scripps Research Institute
Additional Thought Leaders Interviewed for This Report:
Rajeev Aurora, Pharmacia Corporation; Ned David, Syrrx; Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, GeneFormatics; Harren Jhoti, Astex Technology; Sean McCarthy, Structural GenomiX; Mark Murcko, Vertex Pharmaceuticals; Martin Norin, Biovitrum; Kal Ramnarayan, Structural Bioinformatics
View Cart
