One of the most useful databases, which gathers comprehensive data on proteomes of several organisms, including yeast and human, will require a paid subscription as of June 1st of this year (2002).
Incyte Genomics plans to charge $2000 US per year per laboratory to access the library. A laboratory is defined to be ``a single Principal Investigator, his/her postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and technical support (usually 5-8 individuals).'' According to information provided, ``larger labs, depending on their size, may be required to purchase multiple subscriptions.''
Charging the fee of $2000 US will simply mean cessation of its use for thousands of laboratories, mainly from poor countries, unfortunately, also including most of the European laboratories.
Incyte Genomics seems to take seriously its slogan: ``Integrating the Science and Business of Genomics.''
For more information:
http://www.incyte.com/sequence/proteome/subscription.shtml
http://www.incyte.com/sequence/proteome/faq.shtml#start