MetaboNews
              Masthead
Published in partnership between
TMIC and the Metabolomics Society

Issue 33 - May 2014

CONTENTS:


Online version of this newsletter:
http://www.metabonews.ca/May2014/MetaboNews_May2014.htm


Welcome to the thirty-third issue of MetaboNews, a monthly newsletter published in partnership between The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC,
http://www.metabolomicscentre.ca/) and the international Metabolomics Society (http://www.metabolomicssociety.org/), to keep metabolomics researchers and other professionals informed about new technologies, software, databases, events, job postings, conferences, training opportunities, interviews, publications, awards, and other newsworthy items concerning metabolomics. MetaboNews represents the one-stop-shop for the very latest and most critical news about the science of metabolomics. In this issue, we feature a Metabolomics Spotlight article on ways that Metabolomics has contributed to life science discoveries, and a metabolomics interview with Lorne Fell of LECO Corporation.


This issue of MetaboNews is supported by:

Metanomics Health
    
Biocrates --
                                Standardized Metabolic Phenotyping  
    
Chenomx --
                                Metabolite Discovery & Measurement
Metanomics Health GmbH

Biocrates Life Sciences AG

Chenomx Inc.

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Metabolomics Society Logo

Metabolomics Society News


2014 Honorary Fellows of the Metabolomics Society Announced
An Honorary Fellowship is a significant lifetime award granted by the Board of Directors of the Metabolomics Society to recognize exceptional members of the community who have either made outstanding contributions to the Metabolomics Society over a sustained period of time, and/or made a pioneering and sustained contribution to the science of metabolomics at an international level. With up to two lifetime Fellowships awarded each year, the Board is pleased to recognize the following individuals as the lifetime Honorary Fellows of the Metabolomics Society for 2014:

Professor Oliver Fiehn in recognition of his role as an advocate and a powerful intellect in establishing the utility of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics for more than a decade resulting in groundbreaking plant and medical studies.

Professor David Wishart in recognition of his successful establishment of numerous internationally recognized metabolomics databases and informatics resources that have enabled the advancement of human health, disease, and nutritional metabolomics.

We congratulate both of these esteemed scientists on this honor.


New Metabolomics Society website and Forum
The Society’s website is now being hosted by A-S-K Associates (http://www.askusa.com/) and will be undergoing a series of updates in the next few weeks. Please visit http://www.metabolomicssociety.org/ regularly as we expand the information and features to better support our community.

In addition, in part through the activities of some of the Metabolomics Society’s Task Groups, we are re-launching a Metabolomics Forum to facilitate discussions within our community. The new Forum represents a merger of the Society’s current Interest Groups with the previously independent forum. We are indebted to the founders of the Metabolomics-Forum.com, Dr Ralf Tautenhahn and his colleagues, who are kindly giving this forum to the Metabolomics Society for hosting and management. The merger will result in a ‘one-shop-stop’ for questions and discussions on the topic of metabolomics. Watch for the new link on the Society’s website!


Final reminder for 10th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society
Location: Tsuruoka, Japan
Date: June 23rd to 26th 2014
Website: http://metabolomics2014.org/

•    Registration Deadline: 29th May, 2014
•    Plenary and keynote speakers have been announced, and talks have been selected from the abstracts submitted for oral presentation: http://metabolomics2014.org/index.php/program/speakers

Scientific themes include:
•    Drugs and medicinal, cancer, CVD, diabetes, neuroscience
•    Microbiology, parasitology, pathology
•    Nutrition
•    Model organisms
•    Plant physiology, crop improvement
•    Environmental
•    Flux and pathways
•    New technologies, data analysis, networks, omics and integration

We would like to take this opportunity to remind the metabolomics community that this is the official annual conference of the international Metabolomics Society. It builds upon the outstanding success of the Metabolomics Society's annual conference in Glasgow last year (http://www.metabolomics2013.org), Washington in 2012 (http://www.metabolomics2012.org), and seven earlier conferences. The Society's conference series thereby represents the best established, most attended and longest running conference program in the field of metabolomics and metabonomics globally. It should not be confused with any other conferences that brand a similar name.


Early-Career Members Network (EMN)
The EMN is dedicated to, and run by early-career scientists who are members of the Metabolomics Society and are from either academia, government or industry. The network aims to provide a forum for metabolomics researchers at the start of their professional career.

EMN Workshop at the 10th Annual International Conference
We cannot wait to see you at the 10th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society in Tsuruoka. The EMN will host a two session workshop tailored for the needs of the early-career members. In addition to the two sessions we will also host a social mixer to give early-career members the opportunity to connect with each other and mingle with top scientists in the metabolomics field.

Session I. Scientific writing and Grant writing: how to get published and funded in metabolomics
This session will deal with something all scientists often face during their career: writing. Three excellent speakers will share their view on how to effectively communicate your science using written language. The different roles these scientists have, i.e., journal editor, part of funding body, part of reviewing committee, promises a vivid and diverse setting of this first session of the workshop. The speakers will concentrate on technical aspects of writing and give some tips focused on early-career scientists. This session aims to provide early-career scientist with tools and resources to work on their writing skills.

Speakers:
•    “Scientific inspiration versus literary perspiration: What makes a good Metabolomics paper?”, Royston Goodacre (University of Manchester, UK)
•    “Navigating the Road Ahead: NIH Mechanisms to Obtain Funding for Metabolomics Research”, Krista Zanetti (NIH, USA)
•    “How to be a good hunter of research grant”, Eiichiro Fukusaki (Osaka University, Japan)

Session II. Identification of unknown metabolites
This session is focused on one of the biggest hurdles facing metabolomics research nowadays. The annotation and identification of unknown metabolites many of you will be confronted with during your metabolomics experiments are challenging parts of the metabolomics pipeline. In this session, three speakers will explain their approaches and views on this topic and show useful metabolomics databases. The first two speakers will focus on data analysis of gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) spectra and liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution MS (LC-MS), and the role of NMR in de novo identification will be briefly touched upon. The last speaker will highlight the different metabolomics repositories and databases that are available to the community.

Speakers:
•    “Metabolite identification: mass spectral libraries, accurate mass MS/MS and structure ambiguities”, Oliver Fiehn (UC Davis, USA)
•    “Identification of Metabolites Using High Resolution Mass Spectrometry MS”, David Watson (University of Strathclyde, UK)
•    “Where would we be without metabolomic databases and repositories?”, Ralf Weber (University of Birmingham, UK)

Please follow us on Twitter (@MetabolomicsSoc) and Facebook (Metabolomics Society) to stay up-to-date on all news and upcoming events.


Membership News for 2014
Our new membership management system is up and running. Please log in to the system and update your contact information so that everything is up to date. Check the “Members Area” tab at http://metabolomicssociety.org.

You can join the Metabolomics Society at any time during the year. It is not too late to begin enjoying the benefits of membership, so join today! Please visit: http://metabolomicssociety.org/index.php/members-area/membership.


Metabolomics journal, Vol. 10, Issue 2, April 2014
See the latest issue of our journal at: http://link.springer.com/journal/11306/10/2/page/1

In addition to the many excellent research papers, this issue contains the following contributions on the Metabolomics Society pages:

•    Announcement: Our invitation to Metabolomics2014
•    Opinion: Navigating the road ahead: addressing challenges for use of metabolomics in epidemiology studies


Stay abreast of the latest metabolomics news via the Twitter feed on the front page of the website. Also you can follow us on Twitter: Metabolomics Society @MetabolomicsSoc and Metabolomics journal @Metabolomics. And you can visit us on Facebook.




 
Software Spotlight

Metabolomics Spotlight


Contributions of Metabolomics to Life Science Discoveries


Feature article contributed by Robert P. Mohney (Director of Project Management) and Kirk Beebe (Director, Application Science), Metabolon, Inc., 617 Davis Drive, Durham, NC 27713

In the January issue of MetaboNews' Partnership Spotlight, a report on the worldwide metabolomics market for clinical disease biomarker research and application was cited, which anticipates double-digit growth through 2017. One of the driving factors outlined in this report was an “increased willingness of biotechnology and pharma companies to adopt (the) metabolomics concept to drive R&D activity within the industry.” 

While there is no doubt that there is a rise in enthusiasm for metabolomics, particularly among those of us who are practitioners (as evidenced, in part, by MetaboNews Spotlight articles that highlight emerging technologies and trends), a persistent barrier for the widespread adoption required to fulfill the promise in the above cited report still exists. That barrier was well articulated by David Wishart in a previous issue of MetaboNews as “Our obsession with genomics. In the world of “omics” science, metabolomics is like a mouse among elephants.”  Although our continued advancement of analytical methods, instrumentation, and software are critical components for delivering meaningful data and knowledge to the life science sector, unless we continue to evolve a greater appreciation for metabolomics as a life science and biomarker tool not limited to specialists or confined solely to those interested in biochemistry, that promise may fall short.

To facilitate a greater appreciation for the contributions of metabolomics to the life sciences—particularly  in the realm of disease biomarker research and application—we have provided a high level summary of some of the important discoveries in science over the last few years. This summary (see table below) provides an abbreviated list of publications that illustrates how the examination of biochemistry (often using metabolomics) is delivering important contributions—even in this genome-obsessed world. In fact, since metabolomics technologies began to emerge around a decade ago, there never has been a more fertile landscape to demonstrate this point, as evidenced by the contribution of biochemistry or metabolism research to our understanding of cancer, immunology, epigenetics, aging, disease biomarkers, etc. These examples help illustrate some of the reasons that scientists outside of core metabolomics labs, now more than ever, should be more fully engaging the technology. Ultimately, through translating awareness of the value that metabolomics provides to segments like the biotechnology and pharma industries, the projections of the above market report may indeed be fulfilled.

Examples of Metabolomics Contributions to Key Discoveries in Science

Theme
Key Finding
Reference
Autism & Microbiota
Identified metabolites underlying microbiota-potentiated GI and behavioral symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorder
Hsiao et al., Cell (2013)
[PMID: 24315484]
Diagnostics (Sepsis management)
Discovered panel of biomarkers for identifying sepsis patients who merit intensive treatment due to risk of death
Langley et al., Sci Transl Med (2013)
[PMID: 23884467]
Angiogenesis
Vessel sprouting regulated by the glycolysis enzyme phosphofructokinase 2 (PFK2)
De Bock et al., Cell (2013)
[PMID: 23911327]
Cancer & Glycine Metabolism
Metabolomics provided focus to cancer genomics database mining to reveal novel cancer pathway
Jain et al., Science (2012)
[PMID: 22628656]
Epigenetics & Stem Cell Fate
Threonine and S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) metabolism are implicated in being coupled to stem cell fate
Shyh-Chang et al., Science (2013)
[PMID: 23118012]
Genomics
Metabolites shown to empower genomic studies
Suhre et al., Nature (2011)
[PMID: 21886157]
Inflammation
Succinate identified as a component of innate immune signaling and inflammation
Tannahill et al., Nature (2013)
[PMID: 23535595]
Foundational Biology
Catabolite repression renewed by revelation of alpha-ketoacid catabolite repressor circuit
You et al., Nature (2013)
[PMID: 23925119]
mTOR and Cancer Biology
Extended mTOR metabolic reach beyond lipids and proteins to de novo pyrimidine synthesis
Ben-Sahra et al., Science (2013)
[PMID: 23429703]
Cell Cycle & p53 Review highlighting p53 involvement in yet another cellular regulatory hub - metabolic homeostasis Berkers et al., Cell Metabolism (2013)
[PMID: 23954639]
MicroRNA Biology
Review describing how microRNAs are both regulated by and control metabolism
Dumortier et al., Cell Metabolism (2013)
[PMID: 23850315]

Thus, as we continue to sharpen the tools of our trade with improved instrumentation, methods, software, and standards, we should also take note of the work that remains in directing the gene-centric life science world to the importance of metabolism, and by extension, metabolomics, in their research and biomarker efforts. We encourage those of you who are enthusiasts for the technology to refer this commentary to your colleagues as a reminder that metabolomics offers a powerful gateway to a critical life science data stream—one that continues to show that it has 21st century relevance.

Please note: If you know of any metabolomics research programs, software, databases, statistical methods, meetings, workshops, or training sessions that we should feature in future issues of this newsletter, please email Ian Forsythe at metabolomics.innovation@gmail.com.

 MetaboInterview
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MetaboInterviews

This section of MetaboNews is supported by:
LECO
MetaboInterviews features interviews with prominent researchers in the field of metabolomics. The aim of these interviews is to shed light on metabolomics researchers around the world and give them an opportunity to share their metabolomics story. In this issue, we feature an interview with Lorne Fell.

Lorne Fell


Product Manager for LECO’s Separation Science Group, St. Joseph, Michigan, USA

 Lorne Fell

Biography

As Product Manager for LECO’s Separation Science group, Lorne Fell, PhD, is responsible for the revenue, growth, and profitability of the product line, including instrument launches, pricing strategies, and promotional activities. LECO’s Pegasus product lineup includes the HT TOFMS, whose extra ordinarily low maintenance and established reliability have been used to develop industry recognized protocols of leading metabolomics researchers (see references to metabolomics protocols below). The other products in the line are exceptional as well; Pegasus 4D is the comprehensive GCxGC capable option which allows researchers to discover more metabolites than other techniques, and Pegasus GC-HRT leverages high performance mass spectrometry to identify unknown metabolites with industry leading mass accuracy.

A citizen of Canada, Dr. Fell currently lives and works in St. Joseph, Michigan, where LECO is headquartered with 25 global subsidiaries in 100 countries. Dr. Fell earned his Doctorate in Gas-Phase Ion Chemistry of small organic molecules using the combination of Mass Spectrometry and Computational Chemistry from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Lorne has extensive experience applying chromatography and mass spectrometry to bioanalytical problems, with nearly 20 years of experience in the field including having worked as a demonstration chemist and published 13 peer reviewed papers and 25 posters at international conferences.

References to Metabolomic Protocols

Metabolomics Interview (MN, MetaboNews; LF, Lorne Fell)

MN: How did you get involved in metabolomics?

LF: Over a decade ago, I was introduced to metabolomics through discussions of the novel application of mass spectrometry technologies. In this particular case, we were attempting to solve standard analytical chemistry problems (What is it? How much is there?) for pharmaceutical drug discovery. I have always had a keen interest in chemoinformatics through previous use of factor analysis techniques with optical spectroscopy. The combination of GC/MS and statistical analysis is a very powerful tool to solve problems of metabolomics. As a product manager, my passion is to help solve my customers’ problems by the application of technology, and my interest in metabolomics has only grown and expanded over the course of time.

MN: What are some of the most exciting aspects of your work in metabolomics?

LF: We are currently pursuing many exciting projects which directly address the challenges of metabolomics. One aspect which I find the most exciting is about dispelling myths of the use and capabilities of GC/MS. Many leading experts already know and use GC/MS as an established analytical technique, however many of the current research articles that we see and people we talk to are nearly exclusively focused on other techniques. Oliver Fiehn recently summarized this point of view to the metabolomics community (Metabolomics 2013 Conference Workshops), and it has inspired us to take action. Such aspects include the interpretation of structural features in a deconvoluted mass spectrum, the robustness of GC experiments versus LC, primary metabolome coverage, coverage of more than just non-polar chemistries, and lastly, the observation of molecular weights greater than 500 amu. We know that GC/MS is not the only solution, but it certainly should be an integral part of any metabolomics laboratory.

MN: What key metabolomics initiatives are you pursuing at your research centre or institute?

LF: A key initiative is addressing the question of “What are you not seeing in your sample?” A key goal in metabolomics is really about obtaining maximum information about your sample with every experiment. The samples we investigate are exceedingly complex and from an instrumentation company’s perspective, this challenge is broken down into fundamental needs: (i) sensitivity to see progressively lower concentrations, (ii) finding components and identifying those low-concentration species in a sea of more concentrated analytes, (iii) resolving the components in a sample from one and another (reducing coelution), and (iv) dynamic range, which allows comparison of concentration levels sample to sample and experiment to experiment.

At LECO, we are actively pursuing the use of comprehensive two-dimensional GC (GCxGC) and time-of-flight mass spectrometry to address these fundamental limitations to conventional experiments in metabolomics. In particular, GCxGC adds another level of chromatography to separate components as seen below:

What else is in
        your sample?

We are also engaging in the use of accurate mass data and spectra in order to facilitate identification of unknowns in metabolomics. Accurate mass data fundamentally reduces the possible molecular formula for not only intact molecular ions but also for inherent fragment ions, which when applied to “unknown unknowns” clearly moves the identification paradigm forward.

MN: What is happening in your country in terms of metabolomics?

LF: Funding for metabolomics research is at a near-record level, and the amount of information available to researchers is dramatically increasing. The extent and depth of collaborative efforts is also growing which increases the depth and variety of research in very exciting ways. It is a very exciting time to be involved in metabolomics.

MN: How do you see your work in metabolomics being applied today or in the future?

LF: Environmental metabolomics and toxicometabolomics are emerging fields which are gaining momentum. In these areas, analysts can look at not only the contamination of a certain sample but also the ability to look at the biological impact (toxicology) of the contamination. Many of the concepts from metabolomics can be applied directly to these samples, and it only opens more doors to innovation and application.

MN: As you see it, what are metabolomics' greatest strengths?

LF: Metabolomics has tremendous opportunity, and that is one of its strengths in its own right. It is founded on proven science, in particular, the ability to monitor changes in cellular states. It also provides a time-oriented perspective on what is happening at a biological level. Metabolomics uncovers responses of organelles, cells, and organisms to insults like disease or toxins and fluctuations in feed or nutrients. The responses can be exceedingly fast and, unlike other "omics", represent biologically relevant amplification.

Another significant strength is accessibility of meaningful samples. Here, again unlike other "omics", readily available samples including saliva, serum, urine, and other fluids can provide a wealth of information in the context of metabolites. This information is relevant to individuals and to the science as a whole. The analytes themselves are also more readily available for analysis with little or no sample preparation needed to obtain meaningful results. Metabolomics has the power of detecting meaningful but subtle changes in individual or groups of metabolites and create messages which are meaningful to the interrelations of biochemical pathways. The final strength is scope. The commonality of metabolites among organisms makes methods transferable without compromising the ability to detect metabolites which are characteristic of select organisms or states. This transferability makes execution of the science more consistent; for example, the robust GC/MS analysis of primary metabolites which detects common analytes and a powerful capability to detect and characterize those which are unique.

MN: What do you see as the greatest barriers for metabolomics?

LF: Previous ”omics” waves will naturally be a barrier for metabolomics. Some of these “omics” trends are perceived as having been unsuccessful and any “omics” will be painted with that same brush. Often, the value of a technique is not seen through a forest of other “terminologies” and perceptions that the techniques are fundamentally the same. Perceptions are always difficult to overcome but persistence looks like it is paying off. The greatest hurdle to metabolomics will be to provide demonstrable value or ROI (return on investment), and to correlate with findings from some of the other “omics” efforts.

MN: What improvements, technological or otherwise, need to take place for metabolomics to really take off?

LF: Tools to improve the information quality will always help a field grow. However, I believe that metabolomics really needs exposure to conventional media to really take off. I believe all of the elements are in place for it to succeed, though more time might be necessary to allow the field to mature and to develop. However, the real take-off will occur when metabolomics becomes more or less a household name (or at least a topic of conversation!), such as “personalized medicine enabled by metabolomics.”

MN: How does the future look in terms of funding for metabolomics?

LF: We have seen a lot of positive news about the funding climate. The broad scope of metabolomics research ranging from commercialized medicine to environmental science to fundamental research creates many opportunities, but at the same time, dilute our collective focus and may divert its directions. Tangible outcomes, commercial success and utility will drive funding and solidify metabolomics as more than a "service" for medical and biochemical research to a core capability and research interest in its own right.


MN: What role can metabolomics standards play?

LF: Standards will only increase the utility and the impact of metabolomics. I believe some researchers have resisted participating due to the wealth of different approaches, methods, and technologies. As any industry matures, standards become identified and utilized more until there is an acceptable way to study a particular biological outcome. The final key here will be standardization of data acceptability and formats such that scientists can have access to data from others.

MN: Do you have any other comments that you wish to share about metabolomics?

LF: Fluxomics is also an emerging and complementary area of study aimed at measuring the rate of change of a metabolic reaction. It should provide unique information that may not have been predicted from other “omics” data sets.

Biomarker Beacon

Biomarker Beacon


Feature article contributed by Ian Forsythe, Editor, MetaboNews, Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Metabolomics is an emerging field that is complementary to other omics sciences and that is gaining increasing interest across all disciplines. Because of metabolomics' unique advantages, it is now being applied in functional genomics, integrative and systems biology, pharmacogenomics, and biomarker discovery for drug development and therapy monitoring. A substantial number of biomarkers are small molecules or metabolites (MW <1500 Da), which can be used for disease testing, drug testing, toxic exposure testing, and food consumption tracking. While standard clinical assays are limited in the number and type of compounds that can be detected, metabolomics measures many more compounds. Since a single compound is not always the best biomarker (diagnostic, prognostic, or predictive), healthcare practitioners can use metabolomic information about multiple compounds to make better medical decisions. Global metabolic profiling is now being used to determine clinical biomarkers in assessing the pathophysiological health status of patients.

In the following two recent studies, metabolomic approaches were used to develop tools for the identification of biomarkers associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome and Alzheimer's disease, respectively.
  1. Bos LD, Weda H, Wang Y, Knobel HH, Nijsen TM, Vink TJ, Zwinderman AH, Sterk PJ, Schultz MJ. Exhaled breath metabolomics as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for acute respiratory distress syndrome. Eur Respir J. 2014 Apr 17. [Epub ahead of print] [PMID: 24743964]

    In this paper, the investigators used a metabolomics approach to identify biomarkers for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, they analyzed exhaled breath from ventilated intensive care unit patients (n=101); exhaled breath is loaded with hundreds of metabolites in the gas phase. The researchers used a training set of 53 samples, 23 of which were from patients with ARDS. They identified three breath metabolites (octane, acetaldehyde, and 3-methylheptane) that allowed them to differentiate between ARDS patients and healthy controls. This study demonstrates the potential for breath metabolite analysis as an accurate method for the diagnosis of ARDS.
  1. Wang G1, Zhou Y, Huang FJ, Tang HD, Xu XH, Liu JJ, Wang Y, Deng YL, Ren RJ, Xu W, Ma JF, Zhang YN, Zhao AH, Chen SD, Jia W. Plasma Metabolite Profiles of Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. J Proteome Res. 2014 Apr 14. [Epub ahead of print] [PMID: 24694177]

There is a need for reliable biomarkers to differentiate between Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and normal controls. In this study, the researchers analyzed plasma samples from AD patients, aMCI patients, and healthy controls using ultraperformance liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. They identified a panel of six plasma metabolites (arachidonic acid, N,N-dimethylglycine, thymine, glutamine, glutamic acid, and cytidine) that allowed them to differentiate between AD patients and controls; they also discovered a second panel of five plasma metabolites (thymine, arachidonic acid, 2-aminoadipic acid, N,N-dimethylglycine, and 5,8-tetradecadienoic acid) that allowed them to differentiate aMCI patients from normal ones. The metabolites from these two panels are involved in fatty acid metabolism, one-carbon metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and nucleic acid metabolism. The comprehensive plasma metabolite profiling platform described in this paper may prove to be an effective approach to the early diagnosis of AD and aMCI.

Metabolomics Current
                        Contents

Metabolomics Current Contents

This section of MetaboNews is supported by:
Bruker
                            Corporation

Recently published papers in metabolomics:
MetaboNews

MetaboNews

29 Apr 2014

MetaboLync™: A Cloud-based Solution for Sharing, Visualizing, and Analyzing Metabolomics Data

Metabolon, Inc., a leader in metabolomics-driven biomarker discovery, announced today the debut and impending launch of MetaboLync, the company’s innovative product offering which allows its clients to share, visualize, and explore metabolomics study results as a client directs. The company will unveil the capabilities of this new cloud-based software solution at the 2014 BIO-IT World Expo in Boston, Massachusetts on April 30th.  Corey DeHaven, Metabolon’s VP of Information Systems, is the visionary architect of the company’s metabolomics data processing, analysis and storage systems. The company will exhibit, and Corey will provide, an introduction to the portal, including a demonstration of its capabilities, in an oral presentation within the Harnessing Data & Standards session.

“The MetaboLync client portal is our first informatics solution available to external users and further exemplifies our leadership position in metabolomics research and diagnostics. Extracting functional results from the information-rich metabolomics data stream is key to advancing our and our clients’ research. This portal will empower users to more effectively visualize and navigate thru their own results interactively,” commented Metabolon’s President and CEO, John Ryals.
 
Informatics solutions have played an active and critical role in building Metabolon’s leading biomarker discovery and metabolomics profiling platforms, DiscoveryHD4™ and TrueMass™.  Metabolomics experiments generate a large amount of data, including both named and unnamed metabolites, group statistical analysis, and biological pathway annotations. Data visualization and analytical tools are required to aid in understanding the data, including relationships among detected metabolites and their effects on the underlying biology. MetaboLync leverages cloud-based resources and web service application program interfaces (APIs) to enable these functions.  Equally important, this portal solution will enable Metabolon’s clients to directly access their metabolomics study results as well as final reports interpreted by our biochemists that detail the biological significance of those results.  We expect MetaboLync portal access will be available to clients for active research studies on May 15th when the company plans to migrate to a new website platform.
Source: Metabolon Press Release

15 Apr 2014

Serum or plasma? Mass spec metabolomics decides

Serum vs. plasma
Metabolomics techniques, in which the global responses of cells or organisms are monitored by observing all of the metabolites present, have been used with some success in clinical, environmental and toxicological studies. In the biomedical area, the tests are often carried out on plasma or serum to detect anomalies that can point to a particular disease or disorder but there has been some confusion between the two fluids. Although they are both derived from blood, they are not equivalent due to the different methods of preparation.

A few studies have compared the metabolomes of serum and plasma with different results and the variations might well derive from the techniques employed. For instance, GC/MS and LC/MS are popular ways to measure large numbers of metabolites but they do not look at the same groups of compounds.

GC/MS focuses on low-molecular-mass metabolites up to about 350 Da that can be confirmed from their retention times and mass spectra. So, organic acids, amino acids, carbohydrates and some phosphorylated metabolites are the types of compounds detected. In contrast, LC/MS focuses on compounds up to about 1500 Da, taking in bile acids, sterols, phospholipids and fatty acids. However, the spectra and retention times are less reproducible, due to differences in column and mass spectrometer designs.

These differences have prompted Chinese researchers to compare the ability of GC/MS and LC/MS to differentiate between rat serum and plasma. Hongmei Lu and colleagues from Central South University, Changsha, wanted to see how successful the techniques were in identifying the differences in the two metabolomes, which would help to direct future studies.

Blood types
Blood was collected from healthy rats and treated with potassium EDTA as an anticoagulant for those samples destined for plasma preparation. After centrifugation, the plasma was retained and stored. For serum, the anticoagulant was omitted to allow fibrin clots to form and the clear serum was collected following centrifugation.

Quality control samples were also prepared by pooling test samples in order to condition the instruments, which helps to gain reproducible measurements. They are also used to estimate drift during the run cycles and to calculate the measurement precision. Saline as blanks, QC samples and real sera or plasma were measured in sequence to monitor and control the experiments.

Before GC/MS, the samples were treated with a silylating reagent to derivative compounds such as fatty acids and alcohols, which would otherwise be insufficiently volatile to pass through the columns. They were run through a GC/MS machine with electron ionisation and spectral searching against the NIST reference library.

The LC/MS samples were not derivatised. They were analysed on a time-of-flight instrument with electrospray ionisation in both positive- and negative-ion modes for greater coverage. After preprocessing the chromatographic and mass spectrometric data, it was submitted to several metabolomics databases to identify the metabolites present.

Mass spec highlights serum and plasma disparities
The GC/MS data delivered a total of 31 endogenous metabolites that were identified, the coefficients of variation of their peak areas being within accepted boundaries for metabolomics studies. The tight clustering of the QC samples in a principal components analysis confirmed the reproducible experimental conditions.

Overall, there were more peaks in serum than in plasma and they tended to be more abundant but these characteristics are too vague to differentiate the two biofluids. Greater success would be achieved using a subset of eight of the identified metabolites which had different abundances (peak areas) in plasma and serum.

They included tryptophan, which was abundant in plasma but absent from serum, and arachidonic acid, which was more abundant in serum, being released during blood coagulation. The other biomarkers were 2-hydroxypropanoic acid, glycine, creatinine, phosphoric acid, galactose and octadecenoic acid.

The reproducibility of the LC/MS measurements was worse than for GC/MS, but was still regarded as acceptable. In this case, a total of 20 metabolites distinguished serum from plasma, 13 detected in positive-ion mode and seven in negative-ion mode.

The former included phenylethylamine but the remainder were all of higher molecular mass above 495 Da and included several phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylcholine, both of which were detectable at both polarities.

So, both GC/MS and LC/MS can be used to discriminate between serum and plasma, although they do it with different sets of metabolites to each other. GC/MS has the better reproducibility but either method would provide satisfactory results.

The data also confirm that there are major differences in the metabolome of the biofluids, which should be taken into account in future research and when comparing experiments from different labs.
  • Paper: Biomedical Chromatography 2014 (Article in Press): "Joint MS-based platforms for comprehensive comparison of rat plasma and serum metabolic profiling"
 
1 Apr 2014

Metabolomics in Food and Nutrition Laboratories
The potential to accurately and rapidly measure hundreds of individual molecular species provides novel opportunities for food and nutrition sciences. By enabling the molecular fingerprinting of food components and their metabolites, metabolomics is helping scientists to investigate the intricate relationship between food and human health. Here, we look at the various applications, strategies, and tools related to metabolomics.

Food not only provides us with energy, but also modulates our health and well-being. Yet it remains largely unclear which components in food — and through which mechanism of action — can reduce the risk of disease or improve health. As we enter a new era of technology, the potential to accurately and rapidly measure hundreds of individual molecular species provides novel opportunities for food science and nutrition (1–4). For food and nutrition researchers, metabolomics, the screening of small-molecule metabolites, enables the molecular fingerprinting of food components. Of no less consequence, metabolomics also confers the ability to evaluate the effect of ingested food, by providing an analytic "snapshot" of metabolism.

Food Metabolome
Because of metabolomics, considerably more chemical detail emerges from the analysis of foods and beverages. In certain foods, thousands of chemical entities are now detected, identified, or both. Knowledge of food metabolomes (collections of natural and nonnatural components in a particular food or food group) could provide critical information for studying complex interactions between nutrition and health. The characterization of food metabolomes also affects food producers, who optimize organoleptic properties (aromas and flavors) and increase the abundance of healthy compounds in their products.

Natural Food Components
Until recently, food analyses were limited to estimating nutritional values within the content of six broad categories: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, water, vitamins, and minerals. Metabolomics is transforming modern nutrition research by revealing the thousands of nonnutrient food components that, although not life-sustaining, could affect human well-being and health. For example, we know that phytochemicals such as lycopene (in tomatoes), isoflavones (in soy), and flavanoids (in fruits) are responsible not only for the organoleptic properties of the plants in which they are found but also for their salutary effect on human health.

Nonnatural Food Components
Besides natural products, metabolomics is used to screen foods and beverages for a plethora of environmental chemicals like pesticides, contaminants derived from drugs and consumer products, or even pathogens and toxins (5–10). Thus, metabolomics is helping to solve some of the new challenges that the modern food industry faces such as the discovery of biomarkers that detect the safety, quality, and traceability of food products. Furthermore, metabolomics is providing novel insights into the effects of food additives, preservatives, and transgenic modifications on human health and the environment.

Food Processing and Storage
Metabolomics is leading scientists to discover and characterize the chemical modifications in food caused by its storage and processing, which could dramatically alter molecular content and health properties. Indeed, food preparation methods (frying versus baking and steaming versus boiling) could significantly affect the molecular composition of food products, as could preservation processes like freezing, drying, smoking, and refrigerating.

Dietary Biomarkers
The characterization of food metabolomes is leading to the discovery of food-specific biomarkers, which are indicators of diet exposure and food consumption. Already, metabolomic screenings have revealed urinary markers associated with an individual's dietary intake. These markers include 1-methylhistidine, for meat-rich diets; trimethylamine, for fish-rich diets; and phenylacetylglutamine, for vegetable-rich diets. Similar quantitative screening of metabolites could facilitate the monitoring of food consumption in epidemiological or dietary intervention studies.

Food and Human Health
Epidemiologic studies suggest dietary patterns could significantly lower the risk of certain diseases including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. Currently, diets enriched in natural antioxidant, vitamins, and phytochemicals are perceived as healthy in western countries, where diets generally include those compounds in the form of nutritional supplements. Yet knowledge of the mechanism by which dietary compounds and diet regimens actually affect human health is limited. Investigating the effects of dietary compounds on human health could help in formulating optimal nutritional recommendations.

Dietary Fats and Lipidomics
Lipids represent the bulk of fats found in food. Along with proteins and carbohydrates, they constitute the three major classes of nutrients. Typical examples of dietary lipids are cholesterol, triglycerides, saturated fatty acids, and trans-fat. Ingestion of lipids has been linked to various pathological conditions including obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases. However, not all lipids are associated with increased disease risk. Indeed, some other well-known dietary lipids, such as omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A and D have been linked to improving human health, which might explain their exponential growth as nutraceuticals.

Lipidomics, the metabolomic analysis of lipids, falls under the umbrella of metabolomics. Nevertheless, the distinct solubility properties of lipids often dictate their separate analysis in metabolomic experiments. Indeed, unlike polar metabolites (for example, amino acids and nucleotides), lipids are mostly insoluble in water. Thus, lipids require organic solvents or distinct solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedures for their extraction from biological samples.

References
  1. S. Primrose, J. Draper, R. Elsom, V. Kirkpatrick, J.C. Mathers, C. Seal, M. Beckmann, S. Haldar, J.H. Beattie, J.K. Lodge, M. Jenab, H. Keun, and A. Scalbert, Br. J. Nutr. 105, 1277–1283 (2011).
  2. M.J. Gibney, M. Walsh, L. Brennan, H.M. Roche, B. German, and B. van Ommen, Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 82, 497–503 (2005).
  3. D.S. Wishart, Trends Food Sci. Technol. 19, 482–493 (2008).
  4. L. Brennan, Biochem. Soc. Trans. 41, 670–673 (2013).
  5. R.A. Dixon, D.R. Gang, A.J. Charlton, O. Fiehn, H.A. Kuiper, T.L. Reynolds, R.S. Tjeerdema, E.H. Jeffery, J.B. German, W.P. Ridley, and J.N. Seiber, J. Agric. Food Chem. 54, 8984–8994 (2006).
  6. M.J. Simpson and J.R. McKelvie, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 394, 137–149 (2009).
  7. S. Trenkamp, P. Eckes, M. Busch, and A.R. Fernie, Metabolomics 5, 277–291 (2009).
  8. L.W. Sumner, P. Mendes, and R.A. Dixon, Phytochemistry 62, 817–836 (2003).
  9. J.G. Bundy, M.P. Davey, and M.R. Viant, Metabolomics 5, 3–21 (2009).
  10. R. Stierum, W. Heijne, A. Kienhuis, B. van Ommen, and J. Groten, Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 207, 179–188 (2005).
 

Please note:
If you know of any metabolomics news that we should feature in future issues of this newsletter, please email Ian Forsythe (metabolomics.innovation@gmail.com).


Metabolomics Events

Metabolomics Events

19-21 May 2014

8e Journées Scientifiques du Réseau Français de Métabolomique et Fluxomique (RFMF)
Venue: Lyon, France

The French Metabolomics and Fluxomics Network (RFMF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of metabolomics and fluxomics, and the promotion of the presentation of research achievements in these domains, in France. Since 2005, RFMF has organized a total of 7 congresses in France (Toulouse 2005, Saint Sauves d’Auvergne 2006, Bordeaux 2008, Marseilles 2010, Paris 2011, Nantes 2012 and Amiens 2013). The number of laboratories and attendees has grown steadily over the years. In October 2013, the RFMF and the international Metabolomics Society form an international affiliation.

The Amiens RFMF Congress (7 JS RFMF) took place in 2013 due to the generous support of Picardie Jules Verne University and various corporations. This event featured three keynote speakers, Age Smilde, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Joachim Kopka, Golm-Postdam, Germany and Reza Salek, Cambridge, UK presenting state-of-the-art topics for metabolomics. This event was very successful, with 162 attendees from 75 public and private laboratories, 59 high-quality scientific presentations, 4 workshops and 6 industrial seminars. Four conferences, one workshop and one industrial seminar were held in English. The 2013 event gave an opportunity to gauge the strength and dynamic qualities of the French or French-speaking metabolomics and fluxomics community.

The 8th RFMF Congress will take place in Lyon (Eastern France) in May 19-21, 2014. The Metabolomic Community of the Lyon and Rhône-Alpes Region laboratories is the local organizer of the 2014 edition.

The key topics, chosen by Lyon metabolomics community, for the 8th RFMF Congress are:
  • Applications of Metabolomics and Fluxomics in the areas of the Health (clinical applications, epidemiology, cohort study, neurosciences)
  • Applications of Metabolomics and Fluxomics in the areas of Environment and Chemical ecology
The event will include invited plenary lectures, oral presentations, short presentations, and a poster session. The conference languages are French and English. Most of the abstracts and slide presentations will be written in English. Confirmed invited speakers include Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf, from Moncton, Canada, Emmanuel Gacquerel, from Jena, Germany, Thomas Illig, from Hannover, Germany and Mark Viant, from Birmingham, UK.

The 8th RFMF Congress will include several workshops, one of them dealing with the Galaxy platform (workflow for metabolomics), one dealing with “Sample preparation for metabolomics study”, and a third one with “MetaboLights and COSMOS initiative”.

RFMF is generously supporting the attendance of students or post-docs (under 35 years old) at The 8th RFMF Congress Lyon 2014 through the provision of travel grants (up to €1000 for overseas applicants).

For more information on the 8th RFMF Congress, please visit https://colloque.inra.fr/8_js_rfmf_lyon_2014
22-23 May 2014

Metabolomics Conference - Advances & Applications in Human Disease
Venue: Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Cambridge, USA

The Metabolomics – Advances & Applications in Human Disease conference will focus on the clinical aspects in the metabolomics field such as advances in metabolite markers for use in personalized medicine, novel computational approaches for metabolome assessment and discuss developments in clinical assay standardization/qualification for the implementation of metabolite markers in clinical development of drug candidates.

Special offer for Metabolomics Society Members and MetaboNews Subscribers:
Receive 30% off Registration with discount Code: meta30


Distinguished Speakers
  • Richard Beger, Director, Biomarkers and Alternative Models Branch, Division of Systems Biology, National Center for Toxicological Research, FDA
  • Susan Cheng, Associate Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
  • Robert H. Weiss, Professor & Chief of Nephrology, Sacramento VA Medical Center, University of California, Davis
  • David Wishart, Professor, Computing Science & Biological Sciences, University of Alberta
  • View the full list of speakers
Agenda Highlights

Keynote Presentations:
  • Metabolomics of Acetaminophen Overdose in Rodents and Children
  • Quantitative Metabolomics & Medical Biomarkers: Challenges & Opportunities
Sessions:
  • Metabolite Identification – Targets and Hits & Pathways
  • Standardization & Validation
  • Computational Approaches to Assessing the Metabolome
  • Advances in Metabolite Markers for Personalized Medicine
  • Technological Advances
  • Clinical Assays for Metabolite Markers
  • View the detailed agenda
This conference is co-located with the Drug Discovery Summit 2014, which includes the conferences:
To register, click here.

For more information, see the event flyer or visit http://www.gtcbio.com/conference/metabolomics-overview
16-17 Jun 2014

Informatics and Statistics for Metabolomics (2014)
Venue: Vancouver, BC, Canada

Course Objectives
A poster announcing this workshop can be found here.

The workshop will cover many topics ranging from understanding metabolomics technologies, data collection and analysis, using pathway databases, performing pathway analysis, conducting univariate and multivariate statistics, working with metabolomic databases and exploring chemical databases. Participants will be given various data sets and short assignments to assist with the learning process.

Target Audience
This course is intended for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, clinical fellows and investigators who are interested in learning about both bioinformatic and cheminformatic tools to analyze and interpret metabolomics data.

Prerequisite: Your own laptop computer. Minimum requirements: 1024x768 screen resolution, 1.5GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, recent versions of Windows, Mac OS X or Linux (Most computers purchased in the past 3-4 years likely meet these requirements). If you do not access to a laptop, you may loan one from the CBW. Please contact course_info@bioinformatics.ca for more information.

Pre-Readings: You are expected to have completed the following tutorials in R beforehand. The tutorial should be very accessible even if you have never used R before. Please complete the following: R Tutorial

Informatics and Statistics for Metabolomics Workshop flyer: http://www.metabonews.ca/Apr2014/events/CBW/metabolomics-cbw-2014.pdf
Canadian Bioinformatics Workshop Series flyer: http://www.metabonews.ca/Apr2014/events/CBW/flyer-cbw-2014_sm.pdf
For more information, visit http://bioinformatics.ca/workshops/2014/informatics-and-statistics-metabolomics-2014.

23-26 Jun 2014

Metabolomics 2014: 10th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society
The Official Joint Conference of the Metabolomics Society and Plant Metabolomics Platform
The Official Annual Meeting of the Metabolomics Society
Venue: Tsuruoka, Japan

Health, medical, pharmaceutical, nutritional, agricultural, microbial, bioenergy, environmental and plant sciences meet biochemical, analytical and computational technologies.

We are delighted to host the 10th Anniversary of the International Conference of the Metabolomics Society (Metabolomics2014) at Keio University in Tsuruoka City, where the very first meeting of the society was held in 2005. Since then, Tsuruoka has grown to “a city of metabolomics”; various additional research buildings have been built, and two spin-out companies established. Tsuruoka is a pretty city located 500 km north of Tokyo (about 1 hour flight), and surrounded by beautiful Japanese nature, historic spots, and exotic culture. You will also enjoy the best authentic Japanese food and sake (rice wine), as well as hot springs. So, come celebrate the 10th anniversary of the society, and enjoy high-quality scientific presentations by top-notch researchers around the world.

Key Dates
  • Abstract Deadline for Oral Presentations Extended to midnight of April 6th 2014 (GMT)
  • Early Registration Deadline: April 10th 2014
  • Deadline for Late Poster Abstracts: midnight of April 30th 2014 (GMT)
  • Regular Registration Deadline: May 29th 2014
  • Late Registration: From 1 June 2014
For detailed information about Metabolomics 2014, visit http://metabolomics2014.org.

10-12 Sep 2014

Metabomeeting 2014
Venue: The Royal Institution, London, UK

SELECTBIO are delighted to announce that we are partnering with the Metabolic Profiling Forum (MPF) to host Metabomeeting 2014. The MPF will focus on the conference program while SELECTBIO will take care of logistics, promotion and exhibition/sponsorship activities.We are expecting up to 300 attendees offering a unique opportunity to network with key researchers who are making innovative discoveries within this field.

Call for Papers
If you would like to be considered for an oral presentation at this meeting, Submit an abstract for review now!
Oral Presentation Submission Deadline: 31 January 2014

Call for Posters
You can also present your research on a poster while attending the meeting. Submit an abstract for consideration now!
Poster Submission Deadline: 27 August 2014

Agenda Topics
Applied Metabolomics
Drug Discovery and Pharma
Human Disease
Human Health and Nutrition
Microbial, Invertebrate and Environmental Applications
Plants
Data Analysis and Integration with Systems Biology
Metabolite Identification

For more details, please visit the conference website.

14-18 Sep 2014

International Chemometrics Research Meeting ICRM 2014
Venue: The Golden Tulip Valmonte Hotel, Berg en Dal near Nijmegen, The Netherlands

The ICRM conference is held once every three/four years and is organized by the Dutch Chemometrics Society (DCS), a working group of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society. The aim of this conference is to bring together people from a wide range of industry, research and academic backgrounds to share and discuss recent developments in the field of chemometrics. Chemometrics is the discipline concerned with the extraction of information from analytical chemical data. It has numerous successful applications in an extremely wide range of industries, for example in chemical and pharmaceutical research and production. The conference focuses on presentations by prominent speakers from around the globe, who will be invited to share their knowledge both during lectures on a wide range of topics from the field of chemometrics, as well as during the extensive, succeeding discussions. Confirmed keynote lecturers of the conference currently are Alan Gelfand, John H. Kalivas, Olav M. Kvalheim, Iven van Mechelen, Mia Hubert, Dennis R. Helsel and Neil B. Gallagher.

At this ICRM 2014 conference also time has been reserved for contributed lectures. We invite you to submit abstracts for oral contributions, as well as for the two poster sessions. Abstracts can be submitted through the conference website at www.icrm2014.org. Submission deadline is May 1st 2014. Note that only submissions from registered attendees are taken into the review process.

Email contact: icrm2014@xs4all.nl
Registration: www.icrm2014.org/registration/registration.html.

For more details, please visit http://www.icrm2014.org/

29-30 Oct 2014

Clinical Applications of Mass Spectrometry
Venue: Barcelona, Spain

With the ability to measure multiple analytes with high sensitivity, often faster and more cheaply than other methods, mass spectrometry is becoming an attractive method of analysis for the clinic. Featuring an array of leading researchers and clinicians, SELECTBIO’s Clinical Applications of Mass Spectrometry conference aims to provide you with an insight into the latest developments in this area.

As the analytical power of mass spec is realised, the range of applications using this technology continues to expand. Focus at this meeting will be given to both traditional & emerging uses of MS in the clinic. Hot topics to be covered include developments of MS in applications ranging from vitamin D detection to newborn blood spot analysis. Attending this event will provide you with excellent opportunities for networking with like minded peers, helping you to build new relationships and optimise your workflow.

Running alongside the conference will be an exhibition covering the latest technological advances and associated services from leading solution providers within this field. Registered delegates will also have access to the co-located Food Analysis Congress, ensuring a cost effective trip.

Keynote Speakers:
  • Donald Hunt, Professor, University of Virginia
  • Haroun Shah, Head, Molecular Identification Services, Department for Bioanalysis and Horizon Technologies, Public Health England

For more details, please visit http://selectbiosciences.com/conferences/index.aspx?conf=CAMS2014

29-30 Oct 2014

Food Analysis Congress
Safety, Quality, Novel Technologies
Venue: Barcelona, Spain

SELECTBIO’s inaugural Food Analysis Congress aims to present the latest developments in food analysis technologies, in response to the increasing demand for rapid and efficient food safety and quality testing.

Focus will be given to advances in both the analysis of natural food allergens and toxins, as well as contaminants introduced through processing and packaging. Points for discussion will also include the ongoing issue of food traceability and efforts to reduce food fraud. Attending this event will provide you with excellent opportunities for networking with like minded peers, helping you to find solutions and build collaborations.

Running alongside the conference will be an exhibition covering the latest technological advances and associated services from leading solution providers within this field. Registered delegates will also have access to the co-located Clinical Applications of Mass Spectrometry track, ensuring a cost effective trip.

For more details, please visit http://selectbiosciences.com/conferences/index.aspx?conf=FAC2014

3-4 Dec 2014

Australian Lipids Meeting
Venue: University of Wollongong (Innovation Campus), Wollongong, NSW, Australia

We are pleased to announce the 2nd Australian Lipid Meeting, which will be held at the University of Wollongong's Innovation Campus from 3-4 December, 2014.

While the first meeting focused on lipidomics we have expanded the scope for the second meeting to cover all aspects of lipid research. Planned topics include:
  • Imaging
  • Botany
  • Nutrition
  • Health and Disease
  • Technical Developments and Methodology
We look forward to seeing you in "The Gong".

Key Dates
Abstract submissions
  • Open: 1 May, 2014
  • Close: 31 July, 2014
  • Acceptance notification: September 2014
Registration
  • Open: 1 August, 2014
  • Early bird: Closes 28 October, 2014
For further details, please visit http://ihmri.uow.edu.au/research-program/australianlipidsmeeting/index.html

28 Jun to 2 Jul 2015

Metabolomics 2015: 11th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society
The Official Annual Meeting of the Metabolomics Society
Venue: San Francisco, USA

Details to follow.

Stay abreast of the latest Metabolomics Society news via the Twitter feed on the front page of the website (http://www.metabolomicssociety.org). Also you can follow us on Twitter: Metabolomics Society @MetabolomicsSoc and Metabolomics journal @Metabolomics. And you can visit us on Facebook.

Please come back later for detailed information about Metabolomics 2015 by visiting http://metabolomics2015.org.


Please note: If you know of any metabolomics lectures, meetings, workshops, or training sessions that we should feature in future issues of this newsletter, please email Ian Forsythe (metabolomics.innovation@gmail.com).

Metabolomics Jobs

Metabolomics Jobs

This is a resource for advertising positions in metabolomics. If you have a job you would like posted in this newsletter, please email Ian Forsythe (metabolomics.innovation@gmail.com). Job postings will be carried for a maximum of 4 issues (8 weeks) unless the position is filled prior to that date.

Jobs Offered

Job Title Employer Location Posted Closes Source
Postdoctoral Researcher in Metabolomics of Pulmonary Medicine Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden 29-Apr-2014
30-May-2014
naturejobs.com
Two Vacancies for NMR/MS Spectroscopists with Data Analysis Skills for Plant Metabolomics National Centre for Plant and Microbial Metabolomics, Rothamsted Research
Harpenden, Herts, UK
25-Apr-2014
29-May-2014
Rothamsted Research
PhD Research Project: Developing and applying mass spectrometry based metabolomics to characterise the environmental toxicity of chemicals and nanomaterials (4 year post) University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK
18-Apr-2014
23-May-2014
FindAPhD
Postdoctoral Fellow in Drosophila Metabolomics University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL, USA 16-Apr-2014

University of Alabama
Postdoctoral Opportunity: Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics for Biomarker Discovery in Cancer Epidemiological Studies Biomarkers Group, Section of Nutrition and Metabolism, International Agency for Research on Cancer Lyon, France
11-Apr-2014
15-May-2014
International Agency for Research on Cancer
Post-doctoral position in computational mass spectrometry: Innovative algorithms and software tools for spectra interpretation and structure elucidation in metabolomics MetaboHUB: The French Infrastructure for Metabolomics and Fluxomics Saclay, France
11-Apr-2014
31-May-2014
MetaboHUB
Postdoctoral Fellow in Metabolic Flux Analysis for Pediatric Cancer Research University of Texas at Austin Austin, United States 1-Apr-2014
1-Jun-2014
naturejobs.com
Early Stage Research Position m/f is available to work on the project: Body fluids Metabolomics in CKD progression Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health - Helmholtz Association Munich, Germany 17-Mar-2014
17-May-2014
naturejobs.com


Jobs Wanted

This section is intended for very highly qualified individuals (e.g., lab managers, professors, directors, executives with extensive experience) who are seeking employment in metabolomics. We encourage these individuals to submit their position requests to Ian Forsythe (metabolomics.innovation@gmail.com). Upon review, a limited number of job submissions will be selected for publication in the Jobs Wanted section.
  • Jobs Wanted in Germany: [Candidate's CV]
  • Research or Lab Manager Position Sought (Candidate has extensive NMR metabolomics experience and knowledge including NMR instrumentation maintenance): [Candidate's CV]


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