"We don't want to say that we will do the whole proteome in the next 18 months," says Hanash, a professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan. "That's impossible. But at the same time, it's not true that there's nothing you can do."
Industry groups have lofty aspirations as well as proprietary concerns. Myriad Proteomics proclaimed last year it would complete a map of every human protein-protein interaction by 2004.2 Information-based biotechs are increasingly steering into pharmaceutical development making it imperative for them to patent newly generated data, a practice that might not mesh with the HUPO vision.
Some HUPO members say they hope the organization will foster collaboration and education programs and set standards, but not oversee or fund projects. "We don't want to come across as the organization that's driving proteomics and you're either in or you're out," says Emanuel F. Petricoin, codirector of ...
