ISB News

Human proteome blueprint

HUPO Releases 10-Year High-Stringency Blueprint of Human Proteome

Like the draft “shotgun” Human Genome Project of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO), the HPP has now reached a significant decadal milestone of more than 90 percent completion of the Human Proteome that is referred to as the human proteome “parts list.”

Malaria Researchers’ Findings May Have Implications for Preventing Spread of Deadly Disease

ISB researchers and their collaborators are using systems biology approaches to learn how the malaria parasite is able to transfer to humans via the bite of an infected mosquito. The information they have uncovered may help identify new ways to prevent people from contracting the deadly disease.

Reconstructing 'Ötzi' the Iceman’s last meal

Members of the Moritz lab, as part of an international consortium centered in Bolzano Italy, reports this week in Cell, “Current Biology”, a multi-omic approach to identify the stomach contents and microbiome of the 5300 year old Mummy, Oetzi, the Iceman from the Oetzal Alps on the Austrian/Italian border.

Warhol style Plasmodium

The Other Malaria: Finding New Targets for a Vaccine Against Plasmodium vivax

A new report in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases describes the results of an international collaboration led by researchers at ISB and Seattle’s Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDResearch). We used mass spectrometry-based proteomics to identify nearly 2,000 proteins present in Plasmodium vivax parasites, one of the Plasmodium species that cause the disease malaria in humans. The work was done on parasites dissected from mosquito salivary glands, parasites that were in…

ISB Proteomics: Moritz Lab Hosts TPP Workshop in Delhi

A team from the Moritz Lab at ISB headed to Delhi, India, to host a workshop on the Trans-Proteomic Pipeline (TPP). @ISBUSA Luis Mendoza and Dave Campbell open up the TPP course in Delhi India today to teach proteomics from the Moritz Lab. Welcome students pic.twitter.com/01hkteGfrr — rmoritz (@r_l_moritz) December 9, 2016 Many thanks from the Moritz lab @ISBUSA to the TPP Delhi Course participants and thanks to Brijesh Pandey…

‘A Better Blood Test for Liver Damage’

Chemical & Engineering News highlighted ISB’s recent publication (Identifying Organ-Specific Blood Biomarkers for Acute Liver Injury) in the Journal of Proteome Research. “For many years, clinicians have relied on assays for two enzymes, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), to detect liver injury. These biomarkers have limitations, says Leroy Hood of the Institute for Systems Biology, such as a short half-life and a tendency to underreport damage in certain…

ISB Q&A: Dr. Robert Moritz on Ötzi the Iceman

Ötzi the Iceman: In a study published in the Jan. 8, 2016, issue of the journal Science, researchers from the Moritz group at ISB collaborated with a worldwide consortia headed by Prof. Albert Zink and Dr. Frank Maixner, of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman at the European Academy of Bozen/Bolzano (EURAC) in Italy; Prof. Thomas Rattei, of the University of Vienna; and Dr. Rudi Grimm, of University of…

The 5300-year-old Helicobacter pylori genome of the Iceman

ISB’s Moritz Group, which specializes in proteomics, collaborated on research related to study pathogens from the stomach content and microbiome of Ötzi, a glacier mummy from the European Copper Age. The results were published in Science. Read the article here. Institute for Systems Biology collaborates with researchers worldwide to study pathogens in the stomach content and microbiome of the 5300 year old European Copper Age glacier mummy “Ötzi” and discovers…

Dr. Robert Moritz Promoted to Professor

A message from… By Dr. Lee Hood President, Institute for Systems Biology As most of you know, Rob Moritz has recently been promoted to full professor at ISB—a promotion long overdue. As long as I have known Rob, he has always done things without fuss, but this time we will toast him for his achievement. He also wants to credit the efforts of his group for their significant contributions that…

ISB releases open-source software to analyze digital fingerprint of protein data

3 Bullets SWATH mass spectrometry, an emerging protein analysis technique being pioneered by ISB researchers, provides a digital fingerprint of all accessible proteins in a sample. The data generated by the SWATH technique are highly complex and require sophisticated computational tools in order to extract identities from a sea of data. ISB researchers have released a free, open source program that allows users to confidently identify and quantify proteins analyzed…

The Institute for Systems Biology has a mission to make data available to the world. In a paper recently published in the journal Current Protocols in Bioinformatics, proteomics researchers in the lab of Dr. Robert Moritz provide a step-by-step tutorial demonstrating how to take advantage of web-based applications that let researchers share and use proteomics data.

Let Us Tell You Everything We Know About Proteomics – Everything

3 Bullets: Proteomics experiments generate huge amounts of raw data, most of which cannot be easily shared or described in a publication. ISB researchers curate publicly accessible databases that allow researchers to share their data with the world and to use data others have collected. All data are analyzed in a consistent manner and results are presented via searchable, user-friendly web applications. By Dr. Kristian Swearingen Institute for Systems Biology…

A New Approach to Identifying How the Deadly Dengue Virus Multiplies

3 Bullets: Dengue virus is the most prevalent mosquito-borne virus worldwide, infecting an estimated 400 million people per year and causing about 25,000 deaths. It’s necessary to understand the molecular mechanisms of dengue replication in order to develop an effective treatment. Researchers at ISB and Seattle BioMed developed a novel approach for identifying host proteins that associate with dengue replication machinery. By Thurston Herricks Dengue virus (DENV) infects approximately 400…

Cover image for ISB's 2013 Annual Report.

ISB’s 2013 Annual Report is Now Available

Institute for Systems Biology has a dizzying breadth of research projects. But when we talk about what we do, it’s how we do it that matters most. The systems approach that we pioneered and exemplify continues to distinguish our ability to tackle the most complex biological and environmental challenges today. Because of how we apply our hallmark collaborative, cross-disciplinary and integrative approach, our collective success is greater than the sum…

ISB Researchers Identify New Protein Modification Critical to Growth of Tuberculosis Pathogen

3 Bullets: Institute for Systems Biology and Seattle BioMed researchers collaborated and discovered a new protein post-translational modification in the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Post-translational modifications are essential mechanisms used by cells to diversify protein functions and ISB scientists identified the rare phosphorylated tyrosine post translational modification on Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins using mass spectrometry. Inhibiting phosphotyrosine modified amino acids in Mycobacterium tuberculosis severely limits the growth of this widespread deadly…

ISB’s Robert Moritz Lab Receives NIGMS Grant for Trans Proteomic Pipeline

The National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the NIH has awarded Principal Investigator(s): Eric Deutsch, PhD, and Robert L. Moritz, PhD, a continuing R01 grant GM087221 for the ongoing development of the Trans-Proteomic Pipeline. The award titled “Development of Trans Proteomic Pipeline, an Analysis Suite for Mass Spectrometry” will continue the work of the ISB flagship proteomics analysis suite of open-source programs that has been downloaded thousands of times…

ISB’s Trans Proteomic Pipeline Software in Demand

Luis Mendoza and Eric Deutsch, of the Moritz lab, were at CINVESTAV (a federal institute in Irapuato, Mexico) last week to teach a workshop on the Trans-Proteomic Pipeline software. From Luis (pictured above): "We covered the basics of data analysis of tandem mass spectrometry data using the TPP, including the justification and theory behind the methods as well as interpretation of the results via hands-on tutorials. We had a full…

ISB on Cover of C&En Magazine

By ISBUSA ISB researcher Sarah Li was featured on the cover of C&EN Magazine on Nov. 18. The cover story is about how instrumentation companies are teaming up with research organizations to gain access to valuable work that could help refine or develop new technologies. ISB's Dr. Robert Moritz comments about our collaboration with AB Sciex for the story. Excerpt from the piece: "Building on this work, AB Sciex formed…