Proteomics--IBC's Second International Conference. Practical applications of protein based tools for drug discovery....

The Human Genome Project began in 1988 when the US Congress appropriated funds to both the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to obtain the entire sequence of human DNA. More than a dozen prokaryotic and one eukaryotic genomes have now been completely sequenced, and the human genome should be completed within a few short years, either by the US Government-backed US $3 billion coalition of academic and contract centers, or the recently-announced for-profit venture of Dr J Craig Venter, former president of TIGR, Rockville, MD, USA, in conjunction with Perkin-Elmer Corporation. As the human genome sequencing effort approaches its conclusion, attention in the drug industry is beginning to shift to the proteins that actually carry out functional activities. This conference brought together many experts in proteomics, a burgeoning sub-specialty of functional genomics. Approximately 150 scientists attended from academia and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.