Advancements in chromatography, mass spectrometry, and informatics have made “birds-eye-view” (top-down) proteomics increasingly available to the masses. Key to the field’s expansion is the high resolving power afforded by modern mass spectrometers which provides unparalleled clarity on the microheterogeneity that exists in a proteome at the proteoform-level. With technology advances showing duty-cycles and sensitivities that surpasses many conventional bioassays (gel-electrophoresis or western blots), it is easy to envision molecular biologists and clinical scientists applying TD in their daily screens. However, omic-level screens are still largely done in dedicated research labs. Here we present innovations that attempt to address bottlenecks and promote widespread implementation of TD for molecular/clinical discovery. Highlighted are advancements in multidimensional chromatography and proteoform analytics that streamline comprehensive proteoform analysis at the proteome level.
Steven Patrie (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)