Mass spectrometry for proteomics

Abstract

“Proteomics” is a word coined in 1994 by Marc Wilkins as an alternative to “the protein complement of the genome” (1). Proteomics is still defined in various ways (2), from “the large-scale analysis of the proteome” to “the simultaneous study of all proteins in the cell.” In this chapter, we define it as the study of proteins and their interactions. Proteomics is a new field-only 10 years old-and the rapid evolution of this field is due in large part to many improvements in mass spectrometry (MS) that have occurred during the past several years.