Stroke and Epilepsy are major socio-economic burdens for the EU, affecting several million people. Research over more than two decades has revealed a large number of therapeutic targets for neuroprotection such as glutamate receptors but these findings have not translated well to the clinic. This may arise from traditional scientific methods that tend to take a "one gene at a time" approach. Proteomics technology enables an unbiased analysis of coordinate responses of the functional units of the cell (proteins) at a tissue or cell level that vastly increases our capacity to identify (groups of) therapeutic targets.

However, the great expectations for proteomics to transform our understanding of neurological diseases are now facing the problem of how the biologist then uses such information, and identifies and modulates key processes. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI, Host) has evolved as the leading Irish institution in state-of-the-art proteomics technologies and supporting bioinformatics. RCSI has likewise built a critical mass of experts in the pathogenesis of brain injury. We propose establishing additional skills to operate a cooperative framework of disciplines under one roof and on a single project we term "systems proteomics to implement neuroscience" (SPIN).

The RCSI will establish competence in two new disciplines;
(1) systems proteomics and
(2) protein/gene manipulation strategies.

Training and transfer of knowledge in these areas will provide the RCSI with critical continuity from disease modelling through proteomics-bioinformatics to protein manipulation measures and that will define and refine the best therapeutic targets. The RCSI's establishment of this inter-disciplinary framework will maximize its competitiveness at international levels where EU-based researchers are falling behind North American institutions that have become successful at such integration.