Marc R. Wilkins is an Australian scientist who is credited with the defining the concept of the proteome.[1] Wilkins is a Professor in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Marc R. Wilkins | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater | Macquarie University |
| Known for | proteome |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of New South Wales |
| Doctoral advisor | Keith Williams |
Wilkins coined the term proteome in 1994 whilst developing the concept as a PhD student at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, describing it as the 'PROTein complement expressed by a genOME'.[2] The term is a generalisation of the concept of the genome to encompass the set of all proteins that can be produced through the genome through alternative splicing and post-transcriptional modification of messenger RNA.[3]
Career
editWilkins held a post-doctoral fellowship from 1995–1997 at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, working with Prof Denis Hochstrasser and Dr Amos Bairoch. He co-developed many of the protein analysis tools available on the ExPASy web server. He subsequently served as a senior post-doctoral fellow in the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility, which was established by the Australian Government in 1995 as the world's first dedicated proteome research centre.[4]
In 1997 he co-edited the first book on proteomics, 'Proteome Research: New Frontiers in Functional Genomics' (Wilkins et al. (eds), Springer Verlag), which sold more than 4,000 copies.[5]
He was a co-founder of the proteomics company Proteome Systems Ltd. It was established in January 1999, and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2004. Dr Wilkins worked in Proteome Systems full-time for 6 years as leader of its bioinformatics Research and Development team then as Head of Proteomics. It was awarded IBM's "Rookie of the Year Award" for companies in the Asia-Pacific region, in 2003. Proteome Systems was renamed Tyrian Diagnostics[6] and ultimately divested its IP. In 2007, Wilkins co-founded the regenerative medicine company, Regeneus.[7] This company has developed treatments for osteoarthritis using adult stem cells, which are now in clinical trials.
Wilkins is currently a Professor of Systems Biology at the University of New South Wales,[8] and is the director of the Systems Biology Initiative[9] and the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics.[10] He has published more than 200 research papers and book chapters.[11] His current research concerns the role of protein methylation in the eukaryotic cell, the use of crosslinking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) for proteome-scale analysis of protein interaction networks (the interactome) and the bioinformatic analysis of next-generation sequencing data. As part of the koala genome consortium, his team did all PacBio long-read sequencing and then Falcon-based assembly to generate the most complete and contiguous marsupial genome to date.[12]
In 2012, Wilkins was awarded the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's Beckman Coulter Discovery Science Award.[13] This prize is awarded to a member for distinguished contributions to the field of biochemistry and molecular biology. The University of New South Wales awarded Wilkins a Doctor of Science (D. Sc.) in 2018.
Recently, he has enjoyed collaborating on the Human Proteome Project (published 2020) and the Human RNA Atlas Project (published 2021).
References
edit- ^ Wilkins, Marc R.; Sanchez, Jean-Charles; Gooley, Andrew A.; Appel, Ron D.; Humphery-Smith, Ian; Hochstrasser, Denis F.; Williams, Keith L. (1996). "Progress with Proteome Projects: Why all Proteins Expressed by a Genome Should be Identified and How To Do It". Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews. 13 (1): 19–50. doi:10.1080/02648725.1996.10647923. PMID 8948108.
- ^ Wilkins, Marc R.; Pasquali, Christian; Appel, Ron D.; Ou, Keli; Golaz, Olivier; Sanchez, Jean-Charles; Yan, Jun X.; Gooley, Andrew. A.; Hughes, Graham; Humphery-Smith, Ian; Williams, Keith L.; Hochstrasser, Denis F. (1 January 1996). "From Proteins to Proteomes: Large Scale Protein Identification by Two-Dimensional Electrophoresis and Arnino Acid Analysis". Nature Biotechnology. 14 (1): 61–65. doi:10.1038/nbt0196-61. PMID 9636313. S2CID 25320181.
- ^ Wasinger et al. Progress with gene-product mapping of the Mollicutes: Mycoplasma genitalium
- ^ APAF - Australian Proteome Research Facility
- ^ Wilkins et al (Eds.) Proteome Research: New Frontiers in Functional Genomics
- ^ "Tyrian Diagnostics Pty Ltd"
- ^ Regeneus Pty Ltd
- ^ Marc Wilkins - UNSW researcher profile
- ^ Systems Biology Initiative
- ^ Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics
- ^ Marc Wilkins - UNSW publication list
- ^ Johnson, RN; O'Meally, D; Chen, Z; Etherington, GJ; Ho, SYW; Nash, WJ; Grueber, CE; Cheng, Y; Whittington, CM; Dennison, S; Peel, E; Haerty, W; O'Neill, RJ; Colgan, D; Russell, TL; Alquezar-Planas, DE; Attenbrow, V; Bragg, JG; Brandies, PA; Chong, AY; Deakin, JE; Di Palma, F; Duda, Z; Eldridge, MDB; Ewart, KM; Hogg, CJ; Frankham, GJ; Georges, A; Gillett, AK; Govendir, M; Greenwood, AD; Hayakawa, T; Helgen, KM; Hobbs, M; Holleley, CE; Heider, TN; Jones, EA; King, A; Madden, D; Graves, JAM; Morris, KM; Neaves, LE; Patel, HR; Polkinghorne, A; Renfree, MB; Robin, C; Salinas, R; Tsangaras, K; Waters, PD; Waters, SA; Wright, B; Wilkins, MR; Timms, P; Belov, K (2018). "Adaptation and conservation insights from the koala genome". Nat Genet. 50 (8): 1102–1111. doi:10.1038/s41588-018-0153-5. PMC 6197426. PMID 29967444.
- ^ ASBMB Awards
External links
edit- Marc Wilkins Biography - University of New South Wales
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences University of New South Wales
- Carol Ezzell, "Proteins Rule", Scientific American (April 2002).
- The Australian Proteome Analysis Facility (APAF Ltd)
- Tyrian Diagnostics (formerly Proteome Systems Ltd, up to 6 November 2008)
- Systems Biology Initiative
- ASBMB Awards descriptions