A TRAINING COURSE FOR PROTEOMICS DATA MANAGEMENT

Proteome science is reaching maturity, and many laboratories throughout the UK have set up successful groups which are carrying out a variety of proteome experiments on different organisms, species and tissues. These experiments generate large volumes of data in a variety of different formats and styles, all containing information on the proteins that are expressed in the biological systems under study. However, it is increasingly clear that this data is not being captured, stored or managed in a consistent way, and this prevent different groups from exchanging and comparing their data sets effectively. There are, however, data standards being developed and repositories of proteome data are starting to appear. We aim to deliver a short course and associated distance learning version, which will train researchers in how to capture, analyse and store their proteomic data in a consistent fashion. By offering such professional development opportunities to scientists, we aim to promote good practice in proteome data management, help data exchange in this field, and allow more comparative proteomics and exciting experiments to be achieved.

We propose to deliver a short course in Proteomics Data Management, running annually for 3 years, offering professional development training in this area. The course will be run by leading proteome bioinformaticians in the UK, offering training in a variety of aspects of the proteome data capture pipeline from the sample/hypothesis end, via database searching with mass spectrometry data, through to data storage and dissemination. This will utilise the latest data standards developed internationally for all forms of relevant proteomic data, how this is modelled computationally, captured and validated by software tools, submitted to repositories and further analysed. This will be supported by numerous exemplar cases from our own projects and collaborators, to demonstrate how proteomic data handling problems were solved, and will include extensive hands-on sessions with informatic tools to gain skills in the practice described in the course. The course will also migrate to externally delivered forms over 3 years, into Access-Grid and Distance Learning formats.