Integrative proteomics for the future US HUPO Fifth Annual Conference from genes to function 22-25 February 2009, San Diego, CA, USA

This report reviews the 5th US HUPO annual conference which was held in San Diego, California, from 22th to 25th February, 2009. The major goal of this year's meeting was to discuss future prospects within the field of proteomics and to push it towards integration with other synergizing technologies. Each day's sessions were guided by three broad themes: The Interface of Proteomics and Genomics, Systems Medicine, and Protein Structure and Modifications. As a summary this meeting has shown, that integration of multiple disciplines and high performance proteomics is needed to meet the demands of future proteomics.     

From toys to brain: Virtual reality applications in neuroscience

While many virtual reality (VR) applications have emerged in the areas of entertainment, education, military training, physical rehabilitation, and medicine, only recently have some research projects begun to test the possibility of using virtual environments (VEs) for research in neuroscience, neurosurgery and for the study and rehabilitation of human cognitive and functional activities. Virtual reality technology could have a strong impact on neuroscience. The key characteristic of VEs is the high level of control of the interaction with the tool without the constraints usually found in computer systems. VEs are highly flexible and programmable. They enable the therapist to present a wide variety of controlled stimuli and to measure and monitor a wide variety of responses made by the user. However, at this stage, a number of obstacles exist which have impeded the development of active research. These obstacles include problems with acquiring funding for an almost untested new treatment modality, the lack of reference standards, the non-interoperability of the VR systems and, last but not least, the relative lack of familiarity with the technology on the part of researchers in these fields.     

How to get proteomics to the clinic? Issues in clinical proteomics,exemplified by CE‐MS

Clinical proteomics is defined as application of proteome analysis aiming at improving the current clinical situation. As such, the success of clinical proteomics should be assessed based on the clinical impact following implementation of the findings. While we have experienced significant technological advancements in mass spectrometry in the last years, based on the above measure, this has not at all resulted in similar advancements in clinical proteomics. Although a large number of proteomic biomarkers have been described, most of them were not subsequently validated, and certainly have had no impact in clinical decision making as yet. Under the current conditions, it appears likely that the situation will not change significantly: we will be flooded by reports on biomarkers, but not see any implementation. In this article, some key issues in proteomic biomarker research are pinpointed, based on the experience with CE‐MS, likely also holding true for biomarkers resulting from other analysis domains.     

Students’ appraisal of emotional and relational experience whilst collaborating online using text based communication

The impacts that the lack of physical cues and non-verbal cues of emotional expression has on the student learning experience in text based online environments were targeted separately in this study. A questionnaire was constructed with separate items for non-verbal cues of emotional expression and cues to physical identity. The survey also included questions about students’ previous experience with technology and collaboration, and their motivations for undertaking the course. Views about their interactions with other students were also sought. The responses of 256 students who had undertaken a text based online course where collaboration was a mandatory requirement were collected and subsequently analysed using cluster analysis. Four distinct cohorts of students were identified. Using a conceptual approach borrowed from neuroscience, modularity, it has been possible to encapsulate the effects of three distinct aspects of collaborating in text based online contexts, lack of cues to physical identity, lack of cues to emotional expression and interaction experience. These aspects were analysed alongside the student profiles for each of the four cohorts. The findings indicate that the external factors that an individual student brings to a learning context can impact on the learning experience. Neuroscientifically based knowledge that is relevant for the findings of the survey are identified and considered in terms of the questions raised from an interdisciplinary perspective.