WCM-Q researchers publish landmark study into proteins

Doha, Qatar: Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar (WCM Q) have published a study that marks the introduction to Qatar of some of the world s mo...

Doha, Qatar: Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) have published a study that marks the introduction to Qatar of some of the world’s most advanced analytical tools for discovering the links between genetic variations, proteins and a wide range of diseases.

Using a new tool to measure proteins, WCM-Q researchers Dr. Karsten Suhre and Dr. Frank Schmidt analysed the blood samples of more than 320 individuals from a multi-ethnic cohort in Qatar. The tool, called the Proteograph Product Suite, allowed the WCM-Q researchers to quantify more than 18,000 different peptides (molecular structures formed of amino acids) from more than 3,000 proteins.

Bringing this new tool, provided by the US-based biotechnology company Seer, to WCM-Q further enhances Qatar’s emerging status as a leader in the field of proteomics, which is the large-scale study of proteins, their structures, interactions, functions, and their impact on health.

Lead author Dr. Suhre, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at WCM-Q, explained the significance of the new tool.

He said: “To understand how genetic diseases function, it is not enough to simply identify the genetic variation that causes the disease. We need to know more, how genes direct which proteins are synthesized by the body, in what quantities, and how they function. So, by analysing the relationships between the natural genetic variations in the human population and their effects on specific proteins we can obtain a deeper understanding of how organisms function as a whole, and also eventually a greater understanding of how genetic diseases come about and how to treat them. We believe this understanding can provide researchers with targets for the development of new drug therapies to treat complex diseases and alleviate suffering for patients in need.”