Platelet Proteomics: Principles, Analysis, and Applications

The purpose of the book is to introduce platelets, and their functional role in thrombotic and cardiovascular disease, justifying the relevance of platelet proteomics research. Focus then shifts to the recent developments on mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics.  This chapter shows potential applications for platelet proteomics not yet carried out.  It includes examples of post-translational modifications (PTMs) analysis in platelets.

The second part of the book focuses on the main research done so far on platelet proteomics. This includes general proteome mapping by non-gel based separation methods (MudPit), analysis of the general platelet proteome and signaling cascades by gel-based separation methods (2-DE), sub-proteome analyses (secretome/releasate, membrane proteins, organelles). Finally, the last section links the platelet transcriptome and application to disease.  This section is highly relevant and includes chapters on proteomics, transcriptomics, functional genomics, systems biology, and their applications to platelet-related diseases.

DR. ÁNGEL GARCÍA is currently a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow at the Pharmacology Department, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain. His main research focus is in the area of platelet proteomics, with special emphasis in cardiovascular research and platelet signaling studies. He has written over twenty publications in peer-reviewed journals and has been an invited lecturer at the Platelets 2010 International Symposium (Jerusalem, Israel), and the XXII Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, held in Boston, United States, in 2009, where he chaired a session on novel approaches to understanding platelet biology. Dr. García was a postdoctoral research associate of the Proteomics Group at the Oxford Glycobiology Institute, University of Oxford (UK), from 2001 to 2005.

DR. YOTIS SENIS is currently a British Heart Foundation Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He is a senior member of the Birmingham Platelet Group. Dr. Senis' research interests include the identification of novel platelet surface glycoproteins and determining their biological and molecular functions. He is also interested in the functional roles of protein tyrosine phosphatases in platelets and thrombosis. Dr. Senis has been an invited lecturer at the Platelet 2010 International Symposium (Jerusalem, Israel) and the Gordon Research Conference on the Cell Biology of Megakaryocytes and Platelets (Galveston, Texas). He has written over twenty publications on platelet signaling and thrombosis.