Biomarker discovery by mining glycomic and lipidomic data

The completion of the Human Genome Project (HGP) has catalyzed the most influencing paradigm shift in life sciences since the emergence of molecular biology in 1950s (symbolized by Crick and Watson’s discovery of the double helical structure of the DNA molecule). Unlike the conventional biological research that focuses on a small number of biomolecules (e.g., a single gene or protein), HGP attempted to determine the whole class of biomolecules (i.e., the DNA sequences) inside a cell, which is now often referred to as the genomics (or omics in general) approach. The success of HGP can be traced to two key elements: (i) the advancement of a core biochemical technologythe DNA sequencing; and (ii) the development of the cyber-infrastructure for both sharing and data analyses which have facilitated the efficient collaboration among multiple laboratories across the world.