Frontiers in Peptidome Research:
Methods for Analysis and Applications

Program	Abstracts	Speakers
We held the National Cardiovascular Center International Symposium on Frontiers in Peptidome Research: Methods for Analysis and Applications held on January 28-29 at Seri Life Science Center, Osaka, Japan. More than 160 researchers participated in this symposium in total, and about a half of the audience joined the mixer party. This symposium covered a widerange of the themes for the peptide and protein research and database construction. Methods for the comprehensive analysis of peptides Construction procedures of the peptidome database Combination of the peptidome database with screening (biological activity) data for discovery of new peptides Contemporary approach to elucidation of the peptide function Conformational analysis of the peptides New technology in the peptidome and proteome research Frontier in the proteome research Two-day symposium may be too short to fully discuss the recent progress in the peptide/protein research, but we are now sure that the progress in the last decade, including completion of human genome sequencing and advancement of the mass spectrometers, is completely changing our previous ideas for the peptide/protein research. The comprehensive analysis and construction of the fact database for endogenous substances, including peptides and proteins, are becoming possible by these progresses. By the present symposium, we hope that the concept of the peptidome will be popular and well-accepted in Japanese researchers as well as and in those of other countries. We are now convinced that the fact database for endogenous peptides is essential for the future peptide, medical and biological research. Of course, the database structure, indices, formats and other systems of the peptidome database should be fixed and evolved in the most suitable ones by the peptide researchers under the cooperation with those working for constructing the proteome and other databases. The peptidome project itself is ending at the end of March 31, 2004, but we will keep constructing the database and accumulating the peptide data. Therefore, we would also like to have your supports and suggestions for constructing the Peptidome database in future. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for the financial support, to the invited speakers for their excellent presentation, and to the audience for the comments and discussion. The Symposium Organizing Committee Kenji Kangawa, Toshifumi Takao and Naoto Minamino