RSC_mb_C1MB90007B 1..2


This journal is c The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011 Mol. BioSyst., 2011, 7, 577–578 577

Cite this: Mol. BioSyst., 2011, 7, 577–578

Proteomics and renaissance: accounts of the V
Italian Proteomics Association Congress,
Florence 2010
Andrea Urbani,

ab
Alessandra Modesti,

c
Anna Maria Timperio,

d
Luca Bini,

e

Massimo Castagnola,
fg
Mauro Fasano

h
and Paola Roncada

i

DOI: 10.1039/c1mb90007b

In the last ten years, proteomics has been

consolidating its character as a novel

scientific discipline that continuously

develops new questions and technologies

in progressing human knowledge of

complex biological systems. This world-

wide movement has been guided mostly

by specific local niches rather than by

large consortia, as typically observed in

genome projects. Such a model shares an

unexpected similarity with the large

number of artist workshops of the Italian

Renaissance. In fact, this deeply inno-

vative period of Italian civilization was

definitely associated with master-

pieces from household names (such as

Michelangelo), but it was mainly a move-

ment of humble and skilful artists whose

work helped to reshape Europe. Following

this model in proteomics research, local

conferences represent a great opportu-

nity to mine significant contributions of

proteome science achievements. The

series of themed articles published in this

issue of Molecular BioSystems aims to

communicate to the wider scientific

community the most complete and

advanced studies performed by Italian

Proteomics scientists.

While human proteomics investiga-

tions initially led the research in this

area, the most promising applications

of proteomics are presently coming from

non human investigations. The advance-

ments in this field have produced the first

clinical proteomics tool (Biotypert),

which is dedicated to the identification

of clinical microbial isolates. The work

from Lorenza Putignani and coworkers

(DOI:10.1039/C0MB00138D) demon-

strates how MALDI-TOF-MS pattern

recognition may represent an incredibly

powerful tool to obtain fast and accurate

diagnosis of clinically relevant fungi,

thus setting proteomics tools as

potentially life-saving devices. The

development of novel tools for multi-

variate analysis is a key issue in the

technological advancement of proteo-

mics, the paper from the group of

Emilio Marengo’s group (DOI:10.1039/

C0MB00124D) provides a state of the art

classification and ranking method for the

identification of tentative biomarkers

based on Principal Component Analysis

and variable selection procedures. Such

multivariate correlations are funda-

mental in order to identify relationships

between molecular data and specific

environmental factors, as shown in the

characterization of plasma protein

carbonylation in response to physical

exercise in athletes presented in the

study from Francesca Guidi et al.

(DOI:10.1039/C0MB00106F). The appli-

cation of multivariate tools is also well

shown in the manuscript from Laura

Giusti and colleagues (DOI:10.1039/

C0MB00191K) in the investigation of

the parathyroid gland proteome. This

study indicates the potential application

of multivariate modeling in the definition

of protein repertoires from adenoma and

normal tissues. The multiple phenotypic

correlations of the induced adaptation

in a genetic model of Salmonella enterica

is pursued in the manuscript from

Domenico Ciavardelli and colleagues

(DOI:10.1039/C0MB00140F) proposing

a state of the art ionomics investigation

by multi-elemental ICP-MS analysis

coupled to parallelized quantitative

shotgun LC-MS/MS for peptide

profiling. This latest experimental

approach has also been employed in

conjunction with classical 2DE in the

investigation of the platelet proteome of

patients suffering the presence of a

non-functional CFTR protein. The study

from Luisa Pieroni and collaborators

(DOI:10.1039/C0MB00135J) demon-

strates via the construction of a

functional relationships informatics

network, a novel mechanism of platelet

activation in patients with cystic fibrosis

based on integrin signalling. A similar

data-analysis approach was employed by

Giovanni Nassa et al. (DOI:10.1039/

C0MB00145G) in a comparative analysis

of nuclear estrogen receptor alpha and

beta interactomes in breast cancer cells

and by Angelo D’Alessandro et al.

(DOI:10.1039/C0MB00027B) with the

bovine milk proteome. The protein

a
Department of Internal Medicine,
University of Rome ‘‘Tor Vergata’’, Rome

b
IRCCS-Fondazione S. Lucia, Rome

c
Department of Biochemical Sciences,
University of Florence, Italy

d
Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali,
Università della Tuscia, Viterbo

e
Department of Molecular Biology,
University of Siena, Italy

f
Istituto di Biochimica e di Biochimica
Clinica, Università Cattolica, Rome

g
Istituto di Chimica del Riconoscimento
Molecolare, CNR, Rome

h
Department of Structural and Functional
Biology, and Center of Neuroscience,
University of Insubria, Busto Arsizio

i
Section of Proteomics, Istituto Sperimentale
Italiano L. Spallanzani, Milano, Italy

Molecular
BioSystems

Dynamic Article Links

www.rsc.org/molecularbiosystems EDITORIAL

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578 Mol. BioSyst., 2011, 7, 577–578 This journal is c The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

adaptation to different stresses induced

by aromatics is investigated by

Roberto Mazzoli and collegues in

Acinetobacter radioresistens (DOI:10.

1039/C0MB00112K) and reconstructed

by ontological classification of proteins

that appeared to be modulated in a

wide-pI 2DE approach. The application

of state of the art 2DE separation

technologies is the basic experimental

platform for the evaluation of

quaternary structure heterogeneity of

plasma apolipoprotein A1 in nephrotic

syndromes in the contribution from

Laura Santucci et al. (DOI:10.1039/

C0MB00127A). This paper demonstrates

the complexity of protein–protein inter-

action rearrangements during defined

pathological conditions, casting the

proteomics investigation to a new level

of structural complexity. The study of

the uremic biochemical milieu is also the

leitmotiv of the study from Barbara

Pavone and colleagues (DOI:10.1039/

C0MB00137F), which identifies a long

reported uremic toxin demonstrating the

subtle association between structural

conformational changes induced by non-

enzymatic glycation of Beta2-microglobulin

and the abnormal display of phosphatidyl-

serine in human red blood cells.

It is our hope that this series of themed

papers will open new opportunities

for Italian proteomics scientists to colla-

borate with the overall international

scientific community.

In the picture from right to left:

Prof. Alessandra Modesti, PhD,

Chairperson of the V Italian Proteomics

Association Congress; Prof. Andrea

Urbani, PhD, President of the Italian

Proteomics Association; Dr Col. Mario

Maida, M.D., Head of the Military

School of Medicine Florence; Prof. Gian

Franco Gensini, M.D., Head of the

University of Florence School of

Medicine.

Congress events

The Congress of the Italian Proteomics

Association (ItPA, www.itpa.it) was held

in Florence at the historical sites of the

‘‘Chiostro del Maglio’’ and ‘‘Chiostro

Grande di Santa Maria Novella’’ from

Wednesday 9th to Saturday 12th June,

2010. ItPA aims to

(i) promote and support research and

training in the science of Proteomics in

Universities and all affiliated industries,

hospitals and public research institutions

(ii) promote and support teaching of

all disciplines involved in the science of

Proteomics in pre- and post-graduate

University courses and in any other

appropriate forum

(iii) encourage the development of

technological innovation in the science

of Proteomics

(iv) facilitate scientific communication

supporting various forms of collabora-

tion between laboratories at a national

level and the organization of congresses

and meetings.

The 2010 Congress included the

following five scientific sessions:

(1) Human and Clinical Proteomics

(2) Technological innovations and

mass spectrometry

(3) Plant Proteomics

(4) Functional proteomics

(5) Microbiological and Food

Proteomics

Each session began with a lecture

from an invited speaker. The invited

speakers were:

(Opening Lecture) Pier Paolo Pandolfi

(Boston, MA, USA) ‘‘Pro-senescence

therapy for cancer: from the enhancement

of protein translation to the inhibition of

protein degradation’’

Giampaolo Merlini (Pavia, Italy)

‘‘Proteomics in pathogenesis and

diagnosis of systemic amyloidoses’’

Stephen Pennington (Dublin, Ireland)

‘‘Quantitative proteomics for biomarkers

discovery and validation’’

Alex Jones (Norwich, UK) ‘‘Phos-

phorylation events in plant-pathogen

interactions’’

Giovanni Sindona (Cosenza, Italy)

‘‘The Specificity of Mass Spectrometry

in Biomolecular Research. Present and

Future Innovation in Natural and Health

Sciences’’

Maurizio Sanguinetti (Roma, Italy)

‘‘Transition from genomics to a post-

genomic era in medically relevant Fungi:

application of proteomics in clinical

diagnosis and biomarker discovery’’

(Closing Lecture) Joachim Klose

(Berlin, Germany) ‘‘Proteomics and

Genomics’’

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