Courtesy of John Yates III
In the postgenomic era, there are the haves and the have-nots. Some resources, such as the genome sequence data that underlies functional genomics, are available to all. But mass spectrometry (MS), the signature tool for proteomics and a focus of my own research, remains mostly in the hands of the haves.
Traditionally large, complex, and expensive, mass spectrometers are often found not in individual labs but instead in university core facilities. Prices are dropping to the point where a small group of scientists could pool resources to acquire one. Yet researchers continue to send their samples to the core for analysis, or collaborate with proteomics specialists willing to process the samples for them.
Such unions are certainly fruitful, bringing proteomics prowess to labs that otherwise lack the skill, and boosting the publication records of the mass spec specialists. But this paradigm is insufficient in the ...
