The Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine was founded and is co-directed by Lance Liotta, former Chief of the Laboratory of Pathology at the National Cancer Institute and Emanuel Petricoin, formerly the senior investigator in the Office of Cell Tissue and Gene Therapies in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA. Both scientists had previously co-directed the National Cancer Institute/Food and Drug Administration Clinical Proteomics Program

The Mass Spectrometry Lab uses chromatography and electrophoresis systems to separate the components of tissue and serum samples for mass spectral analysis which ultimately leads to protein characterization, identifications and biomarker discovery.