To accelerate the pursuit of this goal, Applied Biosystems created the Proteomics Research Center in March 2000. The Center is located in the same Boston area facility as the company's mass spectrometry research and development program. This location enhances the company's ability to leverage its existing proteomics expertise, capabilities and relationships while facilitating new collaboration with complementary research and technology partners. The human genome provides scientists with a blueprint to guide their efforts to define the intimate workings of healthy and diseased cells, but it does not paint the entire picture. Researchers must study various aspects of biological pathways to understand how they function normally and then isolate what goes wrong in the event of disease.
Proteins are important molecules that carry out nearly all biological functions.
Almost all diseases are treated at the protein level. In fact, most pharmaceuticals enhance or suppress a particular protein's function. For example, aspirin blocks the activity of an enzyme, leading to a reduction in swelling, pain and fever. In some cases, patients inject a protein. Type I diabetes is treated with artificial insulin because the pancreas does not produce sufficient quantities on its own.