The Third Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) annual world congress opened in Beijing Monday. During the three-day meeting, more than 2,000 scientists -- including two Nobel laureates -- will discuss and evaluate progresses of the Human Proteome Project (HPP).

Launched in 2001, the HPP aims to identify all the proteins encoded in the human genome and to develop an understanding of global and temporal protein expression patterns in different developmental, physiologic and pathologic states.

As a global collaboration of the bio-science community, the project aims to decode the genome sequencing produced by the Human Genome Project in the late 1990s. "Genome alone is not enough for us to understand human diseases. We need to go to the protein level. However, understanding proteins is much more difficult than understanding genomes," said John Bergeron, The HUPO president.

HPP has triggered six initiatives including Human Liver Proteome Project (HLPP), Human Plasma Proteome Project (HPPP), Human Brain Proteome Project (HBPP), Human Antibody Initiative (HAI), Human Proteomics Standards Initiative (HPSI) and HUPO Mouse &Rat Proteome (HMRPP). China initiated and led in the HLPP, the first international scientific cooperation ever led by China.

"This is the best opportunity for Chinese life scientists both to learn from their international peers and to demonstrate their expertise," said He Fuchu, president of China Human Proteome and leader of HLPP.

He also predicted that the meeting will stimulate the development of China's burgeoning biomedicine industry, which boomed in the late 1990s.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2004)