Nanotechnology in proteomics: Current status, promises and challenges

In genomics, the ability to amplify rare transcripts has enabled rapid advances in the understanding of gene expression patterns in human disease. The inability to increase the copy number and to detect the signal of rare proteins as unique species in biological samples has hindered the ability of proteomics to dissect human disease with the same complexity as genomic analyses. Advances in nanotechnology have begun to allow researchers to identify low-abundance proteins in samples through techniques that rely upon both nanoparticles and nanoscale devices. This review describes some of the physical and chemical principles underlying nanomaterials and devices and outlines how they can be used in proteomics; developments which are establishing nanoproteomics as a new field. Nanoproteomics will provide the platform for the discovery of next generation biomarkers. The most promising candidates for nanoproteomics, namely carbon nanotubes and nanowires, quantum dots and nanoscopic gold particles, offer several advantages such as high sensitivity, real-time measurements and improved reproducibility.