Topological Proteomics: a new technology to decipher collective phenomena in cellular systems.

Cells in tissues or body fluids cooperate by means of intricate webs of proteins encoding the beahavior of each individual cell. As a metaphor, the working of these networks can be regared as a language, in which the relative spatial position of proteins follows strict rules to enable the cells to communicate on a common "semantic" basis. To understand the rules by which cells make local collective decisons it is essential to decipher the underlying portein networks. This can only be done by tracing out these networks directly by means of topological proteomics technology working on the level of each individual cell in intact cell systems, such as tissues. The resulting data are enormous challenge to informatics and mathematics approaches related to pattern recognition, matching, interpretation, and modelling.