Christoph Borchers has spent his entire career fascinated by the prospect of solving biomedical problems using mass spectrometry analyses of biomolecules. Only recently has this become a reality.

When Borchers began his undergraduate chemistry degree at the University of Konstanz in his native Germany, it was impossible to analyse macromolecules such as proteins without destroying their structure. By the time Borchers completed his PhD there in 1996, new ionization techniques not only allowed him to analyse intact molecular ions formed from peptides and proteins, but also to determine the amino-acid sequence as well as the primary protein structure. He used these tools to identify the binding site of a protein known for pumping drugs out of cells. “Colleagues still laughed at the thought of analysing proteins with mass spectrometry,” says Borchers.

With no jobs in Germany in this emerging field, Borchers jumped at an offer from the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park. During his five years there he went from visiting fellow to staff scientist. His chairman suggested he give a seminar at the University of North Carolina; Borchers didn't realize that it was an interview as well. He accepted a position as assistant professor and also became founding faculty director of the university's Michael Hooker Proteomics Core Center.

When he arrived, the entire proteomics facility consisted of one mass spectrometer. With help from an anonymous donor and grants from the National Center for Research Resources, he amassed more advanced equipment. Nearby Duke University joined as the centre grew. Then his success convinced a search committee to hire him as director of the University of Victoria–Genome BC Proteomics Centre.

“He's demonstrated the ability to bring together top-class researchers and industry collaborators around the health applications of proteomics — major areas we want to concentrate on at BC,” says Martin Taylor, the University of Victoria's vice-president of research.

It was a tough decision, says Borchers, but a thriving Canadian proteomics community convinced him to move. Genome Canada and Genome BC fund large-scale research, and Genome BC has a network of interested clinicians. He now wants to expand research capabilities by developing diagnostic tools for early disease detection, and developing mass spectrometry-based structural proteomics.