€3.5 million NWO grant to upgrade the Netherlands Proteomics Centre

The Dutch Research Council NWO has awarded a €3.5 million ‘Large-scale Research Infrastructure (LSRI) – Upgrade 2025’ grant to the Netherlands Proteomics Centre (NPC) of Utrecht University. The funding will be used to upgrade the proteomics infrastructure, support operations, and integrate AI-based methodology, ensuring continued breakthroughs in disease research and therapeutic discovery. The NPC is spearheaded by Albert Heck, Kelly Stecker, Fabio Marino and Pavel Sinitcyn, all appointed with the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Utrecht University.

Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins, which are large, complex molecules that carry out most processes within our cells. For example, they transport other molecules, play a key role in DNA replication and function as antibodies. 

When proteins do not function properly, this might lead to diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders and a less efficient immune system. Therefore, proteomics plays a key role in understanding such diseases, infections, and in developing new therapies.

Prime-driver of proteomics research

The NPC, which has been embedded for 25 years in the Faculty of Science of Utrecht University, has been the prime-driver of proteomics research in the Netherlands and Europe. Since the start of the NPC, the center has been supported by funding from the NWO roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructure. “We greatly appreciate the continued trust placed in our work by the NWO Roadmap program,” says Albert Heck, Professor of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

With this support we can strengthen our impactful collaborations with clinical and life science research, delivering new capabilities in protein detection.

As part of the NPC, leading experts in proteomic research have been creating advanced technologies to support a wide range of users in biomedical research, helping them to address diverse scientific challenges. By teaming up with key industry partners, new technologies have been developed and made available for the national and international research community. “With this support we can strengthen our impactful collaborations with clinical and life science research, delivering new capabilities in protein detection,” adds Kelly Stecker.

Strengthen leading role

Thanks to the new grant, the NPC can remain a leading proteomics facility for the Netherlands. Fabio Marino: “The NWO Roadmap upgrade provides the resources for the next stage of the Netherlands Proteomics Centre, strengthening collaborations that will thrive upon the next level of proteomics innovations.”

This collaboration between computer and life sciences is exactly what will keep the NPC at the forefront of proteomics.

Moreover, by involvement of Pavel Sinitcyn, who is appointed within the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Information and Computing Sciences of Utrecht University, AI-based methodology will be integrated in the NPC for advanced data processing and enhancing acquisition strategies. 

“By building AI directly into our proteomics workflows, we can extract far more information from every measurement,” says Sinitcyn. “This collaboration between computer and life sciences is exactly what will keep the NPC at the forefront of proteomics."