The European Union has awarded 10 million euro to a consortium of eighteen European research groups in the field of mass spectrometry based proteomics research throughout Europe.

The European Proteomics Initiative Consortium (EPIC-XS), funded as part of the  Horizon 2020 Work programme, is coordinated by Albert Heck, professor of biomolecular mass spectrometry and proteomics at Utrecht University. The project has just started on January 2019 and will run for a period of four years.

The CRG/UPF proteomics unit will take part in the EPIC-XS consortium. “The interest for proteomics and the researcher’s need in this field are dramatically increasing. Thanks to this initiative, we will move the proteomics technology forward and increase our support to the biomedical research. Being part of such a consortium will position ourselves among the European proteomics community,” states Eduard Sabidó, head of the CRG/UPF proteomics unit.

Proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins and their role in living cells and organisms, is an important technology used to gain insight into the function of biological systems and the roles they play in health and disease. Mass spectrometry based proteomics requires state of the art technology, in-house technical know-how, sustainable and robust workflow practices, successful and correct data interpretation, and data management. Therefore, researchers often depend on dedicated proteomics facilities to get access to proteomics technology.

The EPIC-XS initiative will support researchers, by providing them with access to state of the art proteomics equipment, and allowing them to submit research proposals that make use of the proteomics technology offered by the project.

All submitted proposals will be peer-reviewed and the best projects will be selected for access to EPIC-XS. This initiative is a follow-up of the previous European proteomics infrastructure project PRIME-XS, which was completed in 2015. EPIC-XS will again provide access to proteomics facilities throughout Europe, supporting and expanding the European proteomics community through its expertise in proteomics. The provision of courses and training programs, will enable new research communities to be schooled in advanced proteomics technologies.

The EPIC-XS consortium consists of partners throughout Europe which have a proven track record in facilitating national and international research within their institutions. All partners share a common goal; to facilitate the development and sustainability of proteomics exploration to all life science researchers within the European Union.

Starting in the spring of 2019, requests for access to the facilities can be submitted via www.epic-xs.eu.

About the CRG/UPF Proteomics Unit

The goal of the Proteomics Unit is to provide proteomic services to internal and external users, and to further develop mass spectrometry-based quantitative techniques so that proteomics becomes a set of robust, sensitive, accurate and precise methods that enable not only the generation of research hypotheses but also their subsequent validation in complex biological systems.

The facility is involved in the project "Desarrollo de una terapia innovadora para el tratamiento de la aterosclerosis mediante la inhibición de la acumulación vascular de colesterol", co-funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and European Regional Development Funds (reference RTC-2016-5078-1). We also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013–2017”, SEV-2012-0208.