Chapters:
0:00 The Pharama Proteomics Project - matching large genomic studies with proteomics
5:10 What next? How is the data being used?
8:46 Applications
12:40 New tools are uniquely enabling these studies
17:12 Possibilities in the future
Genetic studies of human populations have become a major tool for drug development. In the last few years, these studies have moved toward comprehensive proteomics profiling as well. In late 2023, a paper was published in Nature by the Pharma Proteomics Project, which characterized the plasma proteomic profiles of 54,219 UK Biobank participants. This was a precompetitive biopharmaceutical consortium that sought to provide a mapping of 2,923 proteins that identified 14,287 primary genetic associations, of which 81 percent were previously undescribed.
Chris Whelan was the lead author of this project paper, and he joins the show to discuss what’s next for these kinds of studies and their results. Whelan is a director of neuroscience on the data science and digital health team at Janssen Research & Development. He’s also chair and co-founder of the Pharma Proteomics Project.
Findings from large-scale proteomics studies, such as the one in Nature, are now making their way into translational research and everyday drug development. Whelan points to a couple of disease areas — Parkinson’s and schizophrenia — where the newly available data on proteins are triggering new active compound screens.
"We’re literally seeing a path from that big UK proteomics set to a bona fide drug program within about two years. And hopefully within a few more years to marketed drugs,” he says.
Whelan lists some of the exciting new tools he’s using and the unique opportunities each opens for proteomics research, including Alamar’s NULISA immunoassay platform. What’s next for these extensive studies, and what are the challenges ahead in the field?
What’s Next for Large-Scale Proteomics? With Chris Whelan, Janssen