Teaching expression proteomics: From the wet-lab to the laptop.

Expression proteomics has become, in recent years, a key genome-wide expression approach in fundamental and applied life sciences. This postgenomic technology aims the quantitative analysis of all the proteins or protein forms (the so-called proteome) of a given organism in a given environmental and genetic context. It is a challenge to provide effective training in this area due to its demanding laboratory procedures and laborious computational data analysis. However, the effective training of undergraduates and postgraduates in this field is highly recommended to prepare them for the challenges of postgenomic research and of medical, industrial and other economical activities. Since 2004, the area of Biological Sciences at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) has been teaching Expression Proteomics to undergraduate and postgraduate students in three formats: 1) as modules of curricular units (CU), in particular of Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics (FGB), offered as a mandatory CU to IST Biological Engineering or Biotechnology Master courses students, or as an elective CU to other MSc courses with a biological component and to the MSc in Information Systems and Computer Engineering; the topic is also part of the PhD program in Biotechnology; 2) as mentored coaching, in which IST students integrate ongoing research programs at the Biological Sciences Research Group of IBB at IST; and 3) as intensive thematic courses open to the external community. In this article, educational programs and teaching methodologies and tools that we have been using are outlined, from the wet-lab to the laptop. The current role of quantitative proteomics in biological research, with emphasis on microbial stress response and on biomedical and biotechnological applications, is addressed, as a case-study, anchored on our group research activities.