It turns out that seals have been increasingly suffering from a gross disease called domoic acid toxicosis (link) and there are no diagnostics. Currently it sounds like you've got a sick acting seal or a dead seal and someone guesses.
This group fixed that with proteomics of their CSF! (Cerebral spinal fluid)
They identify a list of proteins differential in seals that are suffering from symptoms and an additional list of proteins that can determine which ones have the chronic DAT.
BOOM. Proteomics steps in to a disease I bet almost no one has heard of and comes up with diagnostics. I imagine that it isn't entirely without challenges....like where do you get CSF out of a seal...but it's still a promising use of the magical magnets in our labs.
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