Briefs

By Meredith Salisbury, Genome Technology editor

BOSTON, March 13 (GenomeWeb News) - Proteomics researchers have not discovered enough cancer-related biomarkers, and they should modify and accelerate their research efforts if protein biomarker identification and validation are to have an impact in battling the disease, according to Nobel laureate Lee Hartwell.

Contrary to one theory that the problem with protein biomarkers lies in validating candidate biomarkers, Hartwell argued that validation and even approval are not the reasons why so few reliable protein biomarkers are known. "I put the problem squarely in discovery," he said yesterday during his talk at the second annual US HUPO meeting, held here this week. "We are not discovering markers effectively."

"Basic science has not had a big impact on cancer yet," said Hartwell, who is also president and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. "There's an enormous opportunity ... for the whole proteomics industry and technologies to really have an impact on cancer."

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