Japan HUPO for Promotion of Global Collaborations in Human Proteomics

Abstract

The foundation of Japan Human Proteome Organisation (JHUPO) 1The abbreviations used are: JHUPO, Japan Human Proteome Organisation; E&T, education and training; AIST, Center of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology; HGPI, Human Disease Glycomics/Proteome Initiative; HKUPP, Human Kidney & Urine Proteome Project; AOHUPO, Asia and Oceania HUPO; MPI, Membrane Proteomics Initiative. was announced on May 14, 2002 by the late Dr. Akira Tsugita (Proteomics Research Center) and Dr. Kazuyuki Nakamura (Yamaguchi University) with 18 distinguished Japanese scientists in the field of proteomics. Drs. Tsugita and Nakamura were inaugural members of HUPO, which was created on February 8, 2001, with 19 distinguished scientists including Dr. Ian-Humphery Smith (Utrecht University in Holland) who proposed the establishment of HUPO and Dr. Samir Hanash (University of Michigan in USA) who was nominated to be the first President of HUPO. JHUPO aimed to promote HUPO activities by 1) organizing a non-profit organization for consulting human proteome research; 2) education and training of proteomics for human and model organisms; and 3) supporting the coordination of innovative research in the field of proteomics in Japan. Dr. Tsugita was nominated to be the first President of JHUPO to promote JHUPO activities. He was active for Human Liver Proteomics and also joined HUPO Human Plasma Proteome Initiative. Dr. Nakamura was nominated to be the Vice President. He is active for Human Liver Cancer Proteomics and also for the promotion of Education and Training (E&T) of human proteomics as a member of HUPO E&T committee. The 1st JHUPO conference was held at the Center of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tuskuba, on February 13–14, 2003 (Dr. Hiroshi Nakanishi in AIST). The 2nd JHUPO Conference was held at Itabashi City Hall, Tokyo, on May 19–20, 2004 (Dr. Tosifusa Toda in Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology). The 3rd JHUPO Conference was held at Mielparque, Yokohama on August 1–2, 2005 (Dr. Hisashi Hirano in Yokohama City University). The 4th JHUPO Conference was held at Keio Plaza, Tokyo on July 18–19, 2006 (Dr. Toshihide Nishimura in Tokyo Medical College). The 5th JHUPO Conference was held at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo on July 30–31, 2007 (Dr. Toshiaki Isobe in Tokyo Metropolitan University). The 6th JHUPO Conference was held at Hotel Hankyu Expopark, Osaka on July 29–30, 2008 (Dr. Toshifumi Takao in Osaka University). The 7th JHUPO Conference will be held at Kitasato University, Tokyo on July 28–29, 2009 (Dr. Tadataka Maeda in Kitasato University). The number of participants in JHUPO Conference has been increased more than six hundreds. This may indicate the strong interest of young scientists from various research fields in human proteomics. JHUPO (Fig. 1) also supported other activities of the 1st Asia and Oceania HUPO (AOHUPO) XML workshop (Dr. Akira Tsugita on December 19–20, 2002 in Tsukuba), the 1st Yamaguchi and Yonsei (Japan, Korea) Proteomics Symposium (Dr. Kazuyuki Nakamura and Dr. Young-Ki Paik on April 4, 2003 in Yamaguchi), the 1st JHUPO Liver Proteomics Workshop (Dr. Akira Tsugita and Dr. Kazuyuki Nakamura on September 4–5, 2003 in Tsukuba), the 1st Workshop for Human Disease Glycomics/Proteome Initiative (HGPI) (Dr. Naoyuki Taniguchi on August 23–24, 2004 in Osaka), and the 1st AOHUPO Symposium for “Human Liver Proteomics in Asia and Oceania” for a satellite meeting of the 20th IUBMB (Dr. Kazuyuki Nakamura on June 16, 2006 in Tokyo). For global collaborations in HUPO 11 projects have been approved as HUPO-sponsored initiatives. Two of the initiatives, HGPI and Human Kidney & Urine Proteome Project (HKUPP) are based in Japan. Dr. Naoyuki Taniguchi (Osaka University) has chaired HGPI with the late Dr. Claus-Wilhelm von der Lieth (Leader of EuroCarbo-DB, Germany), Dr. James C. Paulson (Director of Consortium Functional Glycomics, USA), Dr. Hisashi Narimastu (AIST), and Dr. Kazuyuki Nakamura with a mission of “HGPI is to define community standards for data representation in functional glycomics in relation to diseases”. Dr. Taniguchi showed strong leadership for the promotion of functional glycomics by global collaborations with support of Core to Core Program of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Consortium for Glycobiology and Glycotechnology, and the 21st Century Centre of Excellence Program in Osaka University. He was nominated to be the second President of JHUPO. HGPI has become one of the most active initiatives in HUPO, and Dr. Yoshinao Wada (Osaka Medical Center and Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health) published a paper of HGPI multi-institutional study by mass spectrometry with 26 experts (1Wada Y. Azadi P. Costello C.E. Dell A. Raymond A. Dwek R.A. Geyer H. Geyer R. Kakehi K. Karlsson N.G. Kato K. Kawasaki N. Khoo K.-H. Kim S. Kondo A. Lattova E. Mechref Y. Miyoshi E. Nakamura K. Narimatsu H. Novotny M.V. Packer N.H. Perreault H. Peter-Katalinic J. Pohlentz G. Reinhold V.N. Rudd P.M. Suzuki A. Taniguchi N. Comparison of the methods for profiling glycoprotein glycans –HUPO human disease glycomics/proteome initiative multi-institutional study.Glycobiology. 2007; 17: 411-422Crossref PubMed Scopus (352) Google Scholar) for the first global collaborations. HGPI has been appreciated as one of the most promising initiatives in HUPO because of its high quality of data. The activities have been taken over by a new chair Dr. Hisashi Narimatsu who is very active in the promotion of disease biomarker discovery by extensive analyses on glycogenes. Dr. Tadashi Yamamoto (Niigata University) is chairing HKUPP with Dr. Mark A. Knepper (National Institutes of Health, USA), Dr. Pierre Ronco (INSERM, France), Robyn G. Langham (University of Melbourne, Australia), and Dr. Yutaka Yoshida (Niigata University). A mission of “HKUPP is to encourage the spread of proteomic technologies in nephrology and to disseminate knowledge pertaining to the human kidney and urine proteome by providing a database for human kidney and urine proteome”. They are active in the promotion of proteomics in human nephrology to establish proteome database of human kidney glomerulus, distal and proximal tubules, collecting duct, and also urine by global collaborations with Dr. Visith Thongboonkerd (Mahidol University, Thailand) and Dr. Antonia Vlahou (Academy of Athens, Greece). Dr. Akira Tsugita proposed the creation of AOHUPO with Dr. Richard Simpson (Ludwig Insititute for Cancer Research in Australia) who was nominated as the first AOHUPO President, and Dr. Young-Ki Paik (Yonsei University in Korea) who was nominated as the Secretary General in AOHUPO. The foundation of AOHUPO was officially announced on June 7, 2001. Dr. Tsugita was very active in the promotion of AOHUPO activities as the Vice President, and AOHUPO represents 15 countries in the Asia-Oceania region now. From China Dr. Fuchu He (Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, China) joined AOHUPO activities and has been nominated to be a Vice President. To promote international collaborations in AOHUPO Membrane Proteomics Initiative (MPI) was approved to be an AOHUPO-sponsored initiative in 2005. Dr. Bill Jordan (Victoria University at Wellington in New Zealand) is chairing with Dr. Maxey Chung (National University of Singapore in Singapore), who is working for AOHUPO as a Secretary General, and Dr. Kazuyuki Nakamura. The goals of MPI are “developing and evaluating technologies for comprehensive profiling of membrane proteomes and to stimulate the application of membrane proteomics in a wide range of biotechnological and biomedical applications in the AOHUPO region”. Recent advances in MPI with a carbonate-washed microsomal fraction from mouse liver were reported in the 4th MPI workshop on June 22, 2008 for a satellite meeting of the 4th AOHUPO conference in Cairns. The report has been published in Proteomics (2Chung M. Nakamura K. Jordan T.W. The AOHUPO membrane proteomics initiative, Fourth Workshop, 22 June, 2008, Cairns, Australia.Proteomics. 2008; 8: 3920-3923Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar). Dr. Young-Ki Paik (AOHUPO President and who has been nominated to be HUPO President from 2009) invited Dr. Kazuyuki Nakamura to be a Vice President of AOHUPO to promote its activities as a Chair of E&T Committee in AOHUPO with members of standing committee of E&T including Dr. Tosifusa Toda from Japan. Dr. Hisashi Hirano is an AOHUPO Council Member from Japan. He is very active in the research and education of protein PTMomics. We are making scientific collaborations with Dr. Shui-Tein Chen (Academica Sinica, Taiwan) to organize the international symposium on December 3–5, 2008 in Taipei. The theme of symposium is “Frontiers in Protein PTMomics”, which is co-sponsored by Japan-Taiwan Bilateral Technology Interchange Project. JHUPO plays an important role for the promotion of human proteomics in Japan by cooperating with Japanese Biochemical Society, Japanese Electrophoresis Society, Protein Science Society of Japan, Mass Spectrometry Society of Japan, Japan Society of Clinical Chemistry, Japan Society for Clinical Proteomics, Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry etc. Now 20 Council Members are serving for JHUPO with the President Dr. Kazuyuki Nakamura and the Vice President Dr. Hisashi Hirano. Dr. Hirano is active not only for research on protein PTMomics but also management of innovative proteomic research in Japan. Most recently we discussed on standing a new initiative of Formalin-fixed Paraffin-embedded (FFPE) Clinical Proteomics Initiative (Chair, Dr. Toshihide Nishimura) by global collaborations with academia, industries, and public bodies. These collaborations are essential for supporting innovative research in Japan and also for E&T of young investigators to make global experts in proteomics. JHUPO council members are active in the organization of domestic and international conferences including E&T sessions with collaborations with regional and global industries. These activities will be strong supports for hosting the World Congress of HUPO 2013 in Japan. The proposal of Japan to host HUPO 2013 has been approved by council members of JHUPO and AOHUPO. On the basis of human genome data the construction of human proteome database is essential to develop medical bioinformatics for better understanding of life and human diseases in molecular level. Comprehensive analyses on dynamic assemblies and posttranslational modifications of proteins may be central projects for construction of the human functional proteome database. In Japan a national project, “Protein 3000”, has been promoted to understand the relationship between structure and function of protein in the field of Structural Biology. This kind of research will also open a new door from Molecular Biology to Systems Biology and Atomic Biology. The “omics” will enable us to understand the systemic and dynamic flows of chemical substances in a unit of life. Technological innovations in protein separation such as electrophoresis and chromatography and in protein identification such as mass spectrometry and protein-chips will be essential for high-throughput proteomics to promote the “omics”. Furthermore, innovations in techniques of molecular imaging in vivo will be necessary for understanding of dynamism of life system to develop new diagnostics and therapeutics for human diseases.