It is a great honor and pleasure to serve as the new editor in chief of The Protein Journal, a publication that I have been associated with for more than three decades. I was involved both as an associate editor and as a contributor of more than ten papers over the years. Of course, The Protein Journal would not have been possible without the vision and leadership of the founding editor, Professor M. Zouhair Atassi, who conceived this publication almost four decades ago.

I have had the great pleasure of knowing Professor Atassi for my entire academic career, starting with interviewing at his first academic institution (Wayne State University) where I would have been his colleague, had I not accepted a position “down the road” at the Ohio State University. I was honored when he appointed me as an Associate Editor of then the Journal of Protein Chemistry (the original name of The Protein Journal) when it was one of two journals associated with the Protein Society and its members. The Journal faced stiff competition after the Society initiated its own journal, Protein Science, with Hans Neurath (retired from Biochemistry) at the helm. Nevertheless, the journal prevailed under the leadership of Professor Atassi and evolved into The Protein Journal that we know today. I have also had the honor to be involved in other professional activities with Professor Atassi, whom I’ve known personally for almost half a century!

We have major challenges ahead of us in expanding the scope of the journal to reflect new and evolving fields in the protein related area, to maintain a record of accepting only high quality, innovative state of the art science and to publish occasional special issues on contemporary topics and proceedings from state of the art workshops and symposia. I hope to utilize my experience as Editor-in-Chief of Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics in advancing The Protein Journal even further. We have a prestigious Editorial Board and a new Associate Editor in Nikos Labrou; all are well known experts in their respective fields and are dedicated to continually improving the stature of The Protein Journal and to offering help and advice to our authors. For all of this we rely heavily on both the mentorship of Professor Atassi and the readers and contributors of this prestigious journal. I can only hope to equal the impressive work and service that Professor Atassi has provided to the Journal in his many years of leadership.


Sincerely,

Larry Berliner.