There are several initiatives in the world that aim to concentrate, enable access, and make it easier for scientists, students as well as people interested in cell biology to use such data. One of such initiatives is the Human Proteome Atlas (HPA, https://www.proteinatlas.org/) with a goal to map the expression of all human proteins in all human tissues and cell types. To reach such an ambitious goal, the scientists at HPA have designed, produced, and validates antibodies for the majority of human proteins. The biobank was launched in 2003 and its expansion is constantly ongoing. The current available version of HPA is number 21.

The associate professor of the Research Group of Reproductive Biology Agne Velthut-Meikas spent a week visiting the scientists at HPA in Stockholm to better understand the technologies and quality criteria underlying the HPA data bank to use its opportunities in scientific work and in teaching of TalTech students. At the course “Exploring the Human Proteome with Antibodies, Transcriptomics and Mass Spectrometry” funded by the Federation of the European Biochemical Societies she had a chance to meet the founder and leader of HPA Mathias Uhlen, several heads and specialists of the HPA teams and listen to lectures by top European scientists that use HPA in their work, including Prof Matthias Mann, Prof Jens Nielsen and Prof Angus Lamond. The organizers provided exceptionally useful ideas for implementing HPA resources in scientific work and in teaching through practical workshops.