Top-down Proteomics: In Memory of Dr. Alfred Yergey

Dear Colleagues,

The legacy of Al Yergey is the belief that if you are going to do something, make sure that you do it properly and quantitatively—a sentiment best conveyed by his article “Proteomics Is Analytical Chemistry: Fitness-for-Purpose in the Application of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Analyses” in which he appealed to the field of proteomics to hold itself to the highest possible standard. In this Special Issue, we want to further explore that ideal by publishing articles and reviews that demonstrate the state-of-the-art in top-down proteomics and complementarity with bottom-up approaches. Emphasis will be on the absolute need for analytical rigor and reproducibility. We thus seek to have a conversation about how top-down proteomics—indeed, proteomics as a whole—needs to progress to best serve analytical science, and the ever-growing role of proteomics as a cornerstone of modern biological/biomedical research. Simply put, proteomes are made up of proteoforms rather than simply amino acid sequences or open reading frames. We must be cognizant of this sheer molecular reality in terms of molecular mechanisms and the identification of effective biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Do our most current and most widely touted approaches really capture, let alone address, this reality? How do we find a more collegial, collaborative, and complementary way forward? In the spirit of Al Yergey’s substantial legacy as both a researcher and genuine Renaissance man (his main hobbies were formal botanical drawing and brewing beer!), we hope this Special Issue can highlight more productive ways forward than the field has perhaps been entertaining for the last decade or so. This comes with the recognition that no approach is “perfect”, but that by not recognizing the genuine pros and cons of the available analytical approaches (which has not largely been the case with the preponderance of dogma in the field) we cannot move effectively forward in the most productive collaborative manner.

Prof. Jens R. Coorssen
Dr. Matthew P. Padula
Guest Editors

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