Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we are delighted to welcome you to Bilbao, Spain, for the 2^nd International Workshop on Metabolomics and Proteomics at CIC bioGUNE.

Metabolomics and Proteomics constitute two key technologies that have paramount importance in the Systems Biology era. Each of the techniques allows tackling the huge complexity that a living systems displays at metabolome and proteome level.

Proteomics was born after the sequences of genomes were released and by the hand of the great advances performed in mass specterometry and bioinformatics. This way, with the genomics sequences available, hundreds of proteins can be identified in the same experiment and latest developments also allow systematic quantification of the gene products. These developments allow studying variations suffered by the proteins within a cell in a perturbed condition (e.g. disease, drug treatment etc.). Proteins constitute the major catalytic entities in cell and knowing the details of dynamics, modifications and interactions of proteins will help getting insights about basic molecular mechanisms that rule the fate of the cell. Moreover, since most of drugs are targeted against proteins, it is clear the interest in getting as much information possible that will eventually render new insights into clinics.

Metabolomics can be defined as the quantitative and qualitative analysis of all metabolites (molecules with a molecular weight of less than 1.500 Da) in a given organism. This results in the construction of a metabolome or metabolic fingerprint, analogous to the genome or the proteome. Since the set of all metabolites is directly linked to the actual state of a cell, tissue or an organism and thus to the phenotype, the metabolome is optimally suited for the determination of biomarkers that are typical for certain genotypes or pathologies, and to identify key cellular pathways involved in the development and progression of diseases.

CIC bioGUNE has prepared a very interesting scientific program in which leading academics speakers will tell us about the state-of-the-art in metabolomics and proteomics including technological aspects related to the different platforms (RMN, GC-MS, LC-MS and protein arrays). The workshop will also cover recent breakthroughs in each of the disciplines as single-cell and high-throughput metabolomic approaches, protein characterization and large scale protein quantification, along with the applications that these technologies have found in environmental and disease biomarker discovery areas. Importantly, the scientific program will be completed with poster sessions and presentations from equipment manufacturers´.  In summary the participants will have the opportunity to learn, meet and interact with experts in different metabolomics and proteomic related areas obtaining a deep and broad vision on these  powerful technologies

Juan M. Falcon-Perez, Ph. D.                                         Felix Elortza Basterrika, Ph.D.

Metabolomics                                                                  Proteomics

CIC bioGUNE