Proteomics Research Enables Better Understanding of Human Health

Proteins reveal unique biological insights, including modifications that may disrupt molecular activity. Plasma provides easy access to molecular information across the body, enabling the non-invasive blood-based early detection of life-threatening diseases and improvement in diagnosis and prognosis. Proteomics includes the study of the function, composition, interactions, and structures of proteins and their cellular activities, providing a better understanding of the organism altogether.
 

It’s been estimated that there are, in a particular cell type, around a million proteoforms arising from our 20,000 genes. So 20,000 proteins, a million proteoforms.
— Asim Siddiqui, Ph.D., SVP of Research & Tech Development, Seer

Seer’s Nanoparticle Approach to Proteomics Helps Scientists Advance Their Research

The unique molecular variants of proteins offer a dynamic, multifaceted view of cellular function critical for comprehensive biological research. The human proteome is estimated to contain more than 1 million proteoforms, far surpassing the intricacies of the genome, which contains approximately 20,000 genes.

Despite the challenges posed by their complexity, proteoforms are the key to groundbreaking discoveries that could revolutionize our understanding of biology, health, and disease.

Proteoforms play a critical role in human disease and health.

Here are several proteoforms that have been identified and linked to the progression of human disease from Science Advances magazine.

Richer Access to the Proteome to Enable Novel Biological Discovery

Seer’s unbiased, novel nanoparticle-based proteomics approach enables the identification of a wider range of proteins to tackle the inherent complexity of the proteome – a dynamic range spanning 10¹² orders of magnitude in samples like human blood.

• Detecting post-translational modified proteins: When it comes to detecting post-translationally modified proteins, nanoparticles excel in identifying a wide range of such proteins, including those that are phosphorylated, glycosylated, and acetylated. These proteins are often dysregulated in disease states, making them prime targets for new diagnostic tests and therapeutic interventions.
• Detecting low abundant proteins in high dynamic range samples: With the sensitivity that the unbiased, nanoparticle-based proteomics approach offers, Seer’s Proteograph Product Suite can detect low-abundant proteins in high dynamic range samples. With the Proteograph Analysis Suite, advanced data analysis algorithms further augment this sensitivity, making it possible to identify rare, novel disease-state biomarkers that might otherwise be obscured by proteins 10 billion times more concentrated in the same sample.

The technology allows us to perform statistically powered proteomic biomarker discovery campaigns directly in clinically accessible, yet complex and historically challenging, liquid biopsy specimen types.
— Mark R. Flory, Ph.D., Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University – View His Story

Superior Outcomes Over Affinity-Based Methods

As a novel method capable of analyzing larger samples without compromising depth of protein coverage, Seer’s nanoparticle-based proteomics approach offers comprehensive views of the proteome at a scale historically impossible to achieve. As such, it is becoming a preferred choice over traditional affinity-based methods, which often come with lower specificity, and limitations in their availability of high-quality antibodies, capacity to multiplex in current panels of known target protein and identify new targets and biomarkers.

The collaboration with Seer has been really fruitful and nice because it has enabled us to do something we couldn’t do before, which was to do comprehensive mass spec proteomics on low-volume mouse serum.
— Nate Basisty, Ph.D., NIA & NIH
Decoding Alzheimer’s & Aging With Proteomics: A new Approach to Biomarker Detection, Seer Webinar, October 2023

Support for Advanced Cloud-Scalable Data Analysis

In the realm of proteomics, data is value currency and a robust backend data analysis pipeline coupled with advanced analytical software provides an integrated solution for managing large volumes of data often comprising millions of peptide identifications. Automated visualizations of proteomics and proteogenomics data simplify the interpretation of data sets, enabling researchers to spend less time on data management and more time identifying important biological patterns and trends that can lead to transformative scientific discoveries.

Advantages of Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics

A cornerstone technique, mass spectrometry offers unparalleled sensitivity and specificity in protein identification. Despite its perceived complexity, the reliability and depth of analysis provided by mass spectrometry makes it a key component for cutting-edge proteomics research.

Advancements in Proteomics Technologies

Our mission at Seer is to empower the scientific community to advance biological discovery using proteomics to lead the way. Our Proteograph™ XT is pushing the boundaries of proteomics by offering unprecedented visibility into the proteome. With sight, scope, speed, and scale, its high-throughput nanoparticle-based workflow is offering researchers the flexibility, momentum, and capacity in their research to find answers to key biological questions.