The 7th World Congress of the Human Proteome Organization HUPO was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from August 16 to 20, 2008. The event offered a very dense 5-day agenda consisting of an exciting scientific program documenting the tremendous progress, the current challenges, and the major recent accomplishments of proteomics, an exhibition in which all the major vendors in the field of proteomics from around the globe showcased their products, technologies, and services, educational and training events in which new proteomic technologies were introduced and taught, and a series of workshops and discussion forums of all HUPO sanctioned initiatives, including a potential Human Proteome project. Around 1200 scientific abstracts were received, 80 companies signed up for and supported the exhibition, and the total number of registrations was just above 1700, with close to 700 also present for the weekend's Pre-Program. More than 60 nationalities were represented at the meeting.