MetaboNews Masthead
Published in partnership between
TMIC and the Metabolomics Society
Issue 45 - May 2015

CONTENTS:


Online version of this newsletter:
 http://www.metabonews.ca/May2015/MetaboNews_May2015.htm

Welcome to the forty-fifth 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 IROA Technologies' MSMLS, physical standards and software tools to build mass spec libraries, and a metabolomics interview with Jeremy Everett of the University of Greenwich.
This issue of MetaboNews is supported by:

Metanomics Health
    
Chenomx -- Metabolite Discovery & Measurement    
mzCloud™ Logo
Metanomics Health GmbH
Chenomx Inc.
mzCloud Mass Spectral Database

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Metabolomics Society Logo

Metabolomics Society News

CONFERENCE CORNER

11th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society
Location: San Francisco, USA
Dates: June 29 - July 2, 2015
Website: http://metabolomics2015.org/
This year’s Metabolomics conference in San Francisco promises to be the biggest ever. With 12 workshops and 21 oral sessions there will be something for everyone. Registration closes May 30th and rooms are selling out fast. Book now to avoid disappointment!

36th BMSS Annual Meeting 2015
Location: University of Birmingham, UK
Dates: September 14-17, 2015
Website: http://www.bmss.org.uk/bmss2015/bmss2015.shtml
Plenary lectures from Brian Chait (Rockefeller University, USA), Ian Wright (Open University and Rosetta Space Mission, UK), and Ron Heeren (Maastricht University, Netherlands)

A Metabolomics Society sponsored session will operate with a plenary lecture presented by Zoltan Takats (Imperial College London, UK). Travel awards and students prizes will be available and chosen from submitted abstracts with a metabolomics focus.

Support for non-Society conferences and workshops
The Metabolomics Society provides small grants to support events that promote metabolomics. The funding may be used to provide student prizes, travel awards or catering for small events such as symposia, workshops, seminars and short-courses. The Society may also sponsor larger conferences where there is strategic opportunity to promote metabolomics science within other scientific disciplines.

In 2015 the Metabolomics Society will provide student/EMN travel awards for the following meetings. Please see the individual websites for eligibility and application information:
 For more information, or to apply for funding for your event, see: http://metabolomicssociety.org/index.php/events/event-funding
MEMBERS CORNER

 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 academia, government, or industry. The network aims to provide a forum for metabolomics researchers at the start of their professional career.

EMN webinar series
The Early Career Members’ Network Committee recently hosted its third webinar on April 14, 2015 (11AM CEST), with a presentation by Prof. Teusink from VU University Amsterdam. The webinar on "Metabolomics and systems biology: models as guide and natural integrator” discussed the usefulness of modelling approaches as a springboard for metabolomic experiments. Prof. Teusink also provided examples of his lab’s work showing how their metabolic models have identified key hypotheses for testing and experimental validation in a more systematic and evidence-led fashion.

Our third webinar was free for all to attend, and we would like to thank all attendees who tuned in to our session and engaged in what was a dynamic questions segment afterwards. If you were unable to join in and are interested in the content of our third webinar, a recording has been made freely available on the Metabolomics Society website.

EMN Workshops at the 11th Annual International Conference
The EMN will host four workshop sessions (Big Data, Metabolic Pathways, Careers in Metabolomics and Ethics in Research) tailored for the needs of the early-career members. Please check the website of the conference for details on the program.

Please feel free to contact us via info.emn@metabolomicssociety.org if you have any suggestions or comments regarding our planned activities this year (i.e., online webinars and workshops). If you think you have a great idea for a new activity we should organise then please do share with us; the EMN can only be a success with your support and ideas!


TASK GROUPS CORNER

International Affiliations Task Group
The International Affiliation Task Group will be officially founded during the Annual Society Meeting in San Francisco in June. Representatives of our International Affiliates will meet on Tuesday, June 30th at 6 pm to discuss how we can build a regular communication basis for Affiliates and to form the Task Group electing a chair overseeing the activities. The International Affiliation Task Group (IATG) will discuss common issues, brainstorm ideas and strategies to strengthen metabolomics sciences globally and most importantly to work with the society to grow our community. The Chair of the IATG will also be responsible to report back to the Board of Directors what the group discussed and how we can work closer together.

If you are interested to learn more about the International Affiliation Task Group or if you would like to attend the meeting in June, please contact the President Ute Roessner (u.roessner@unimelb.edu.au).

Computational MS Task Group
The task group “Computational Mass Spectrometry” [1] represents the CompMS [2] initiative in the Metabolomics society. The CompMS initiative promotes the efficient, high quality analysis of mass spectrometry data with state-of-the art computational tools and algorithms through dissemination and training in existing, and coordination of new, innovative approaches. The CompMS initiative aims to exploit synergies between different application domains, in particular proteomics and metabolomics. The scientific remit of the group will include all aspects of computational method development from signal processing, feature alignment and grouping, to development of metabolite identification algorithms and metabolic network reconstruction.

The mission is to 1) build a community of scientists working in computational mass spectrometry, 2) integrate experimental and theoretical research, and 3) educate a new generation of computational scientists via training and dissemination of results. The CompMS is a joint initiative between the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB CoSI CompMS), the Human Proteome Organization and its Computational Mass Spectrometry Initiative (HUPO CompMS), and the Metabolomics Society.

If you want to be involved in the task group, please contact Sebastian Böcker or Steffen Neumann, and/or subscribe to the CompMS mailing list at [3] or subscribe by sending an e-mail to CompMS+subscribe@googlegroups.com. There will also be a BoF meeting at the Metabolomics 2015 conference [4] in San Francisco on Tuesday June 30th after 6 pm, more details will be announced on the CompMS mailing list.

[1] http://metabolomicssociety.org/
[2] http://metabolomicssociety.org/board/scientific-task-groups/computational-mass-spectrometry-task-group
[3] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/compms
[4] http://metabolomics2015.org/


INTERNATIONAL AFFILIATES CORNER

Australian & New Zealand Metabolomics Network (ANZMN)
Visit www.anzmn.com.au
ANZMN Logo
 The Australian and New Zealand Metabolomics Network (ANZMN), in partnership with the international Metabolomics Society, is offering three travel awards (up to $500 each) to early-career researchers to attend the Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry and Asia Oceania Mass Spectrometry Conference (ANZSMS/AOMSC) conference in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on the July 19-22, 2015 (http://www.anzsms25.com/). The ANZSMS/AOMSC conference will feature a dedicated metabolomics session including, Prof Lloyd Sumner a prominent international guest speaker in the metabolomics field, so it will be well worth going. For full eligibility requirements and to apply for this award, please see https://sites.google.com/site/anzmn2/travel-awards and good luck to those who apply.

Korea Metabolomics Society (KoMetS)
Visit http://komets.or.kr/english05.html
Prof Kyoung Heon Kim (right) and his postdoc, Dr Eun Ju Yun (left) Review article in Trends in Biotechnology of Cell press
Chief manager of general affair of Korea Metabolomics Society, Prof Kyoung Heon Kim (right) and his postdoc, Dr Eun Ju Yun (left), published a review article in Trends in Biotechnology of Cell press, which is the top prestige journal in the field of biotechnology. The article introduces advanced technologies and strategies for production of high-valued added materials from red algae such as Gelidium amansii. The review is based on their recent scientific report, “the novel catabolic metabolic pathway of 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose, the main component of red macroalgae, in a marine bacterium.” The topic has been selected for oral presentation in 11th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society, 2015.

Réseau Français de Métabolomique et Fluxomique (RFMF)
Visit https://www.bordeaux.inra.fr/ifr103/reseau_metabolome/
The 9th Meeting of the French Network of Metabolomics and Fluxomics will be held in Lille (North of France) from June 9-11, 2015.
Each year, the organizing team is composed of a national component: the board of the French Metabolomic and Fluxomic Network and a local component. For the first time, this year there are International local organizers: French and Belgian, either from Lille laboratories: Institut Charles Viollette, CUMA University of Lille, and the Nutrition Health Longevity cluster, and from Belgium: CIRM University of Liège.
The main topics for the 9th Meeting of RFMF are:
 The event will include invited plenary lectures, oral presentations, short presentations, one dedicated session for the RFMF Junior members and two poster sessions. Invited speakers include
This year, three satellite workshops will be held in conjunction with the 9th Meeting on the Monday before the meeting begins, one dealing with Mass spectrometry Imaging, one with Biofluid collection, processing and storage SOPs for metabolomics and one with Statistics for metabolomics data.

RFMF provides a limited number of travel grants each year to cover the costs for highly-motivated students or post-docs to attend the 9th RFMF Meeting. Last year 18 travel grants were awarded.
The Metabolomics Society is pleased to offer 3 travel awards ($500 USD) for young scientists participating at the 9 JS RFMF in Lille, France, recognizing the importance for early-career scientists to participate in conference meetings.

For more information on the 9th RFMF workshop, please visit
https://colloque.inra.fr/9_js_rfmf_lille_2015

9th RFMF Workshop Banner

More than 180 people coming from France, Belgium, Swiss, Luxemburg, UK, Netherlands, and Germany are already registered.


PUBLICATIONS CORNER

 Metabolomics journal, Vol. 11, Issue 2, April 2015
See the latest issue of our journal at: http://link.springer.com/journal/11306/11/2/page/1

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

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.


OTHER FEATURES THROUGH THE YEAR

Call for nominations for Directors of the Metabolomics Society
In the next three months, the Metabolomics Society will undertake the annual process of nominating and electing four members to serve on the Society’s Board of Directors. We strongly encourage all Society members to play a role in nominations and elections.
 Please contribute to shaping the future of our Society by voting and playing an active role.

Tim Ebbels (Chair of Nominations Committee) & Ute Roessner (President)


 
 Software Spotlight

Metabolomics Spotlight

MSMLS: Physical standards and software tools to build mass spec libraries
Feature article contributed by Felice de Jong1, Chris Beecher2
Affiliations: 1. IROA Technologies LLC, Bolton, MA USA 01740 and 2. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL USA

The ability to source high-quality chemical standards for metabolite identification, method validation, and quantification is critical to assure accurate, comprehensive metabolomics analysis. Collections of metabolite standards are limited and often the preparation of compounds for use is laborious and costly.

MSMLS is a collection of high-quality small molecules that span a broad range of primary metabolism.  Conveniently provided dried at 5 µg per well for multiple injections, the 619 MSMLS compounds are arranged in 7 polypropylene 96-well format racks with alphanumeric assigned positions, suitable for manual and automated workflow. Each well represents a single compound. The entire library may be examined in great detail in 619 injections for each of the unique compounds or if the rows of each plate are pooled then the entire collection may be analyzed in 56 injections of simple mixtures.

MSMLSDiscovery is a software tool that supports the extraction, manipulation, and storage of MSMLS-generated data, designed to streamline and simplify the tedious process of building authentic, standard MS libraries. The program is tailored to work with MSMLS and the layout of the software user interface is intuitive.

The requirements of the program are that:
  1. The most recent version of Java 7 must be installed and callable
  2. The computer should have at least 8 GB of RAM
  3. Windows 7 or 8 operating system
The standard MSMLSDiscovery software workflow guides you though:
The user specifies name, description, polarity and MS depth for each analysis used to collect raw data and imports raw data, Figure 1A. Samples that the user creates in the experimental design will be listed in Figure 1B, and their associated authentic standards in Figure 1C. There are two ways to select compounds—using the plate map table or using the plate compound table, Figure 1D. The tooltip will display the compound name when the user points the mouse to a particular table cell; clicking inside the cell will bring up the compound structure and other information in the lower right portion of the window (Figure 1E).

A complete copy of the raw files is saved within the project, as are the preferences and libraries extracted. The work can be interrupted at any stage and the user can return to the analysis at a later date.

Click on the thumbnail image below to view a larger version of the image

Multiplex designer panel overview

Figure 1. Multiplex designer panel overview

Once the raw MS data is loaded and assigned to corresponding samples, then search parameters are specified. The search results are displayed in a tree format and are ready for curation, Figure 2A. Clicking on the compound in the tree will bring up the following information in the corresponding panels:

Click on the thumbnail image below to view a larger version of the image

Data analysis panel

Figure 2. Data analysis panel

After the curation process is completed, the library may be exported. The kit includes standards and software. Further information can be freely found on our website, www.iroatech.com, or obtained from the primary author of this article, Felice de Jong, felice@iroatech.com.


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 Icon

MetaboInterview
This section 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 Jeremy Everett.
Jeremy Everett

 Professor of Pharmaceutical Technologies at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom
Jeremy Everett
Biography

Jeremy Everett is the Professor of Pharmaceutical Technologies at the University of Greenwich, UK. Jeremy previously held a variety of global drug discovery technology leadership positions for Pfizer, and before that, SmithKline Beecham. He is a consultant on lead and drug discovery to both large pharma and small research institutes, and has worked as an expert witness for a US law firm in a patent case. Jeremy conducts research in metabonomics and pharmacometabonomics, and has made several contributions in this area: he conceived and co-named the new science of metabonomics; he co-discovered and co-named pharmacometabonomics (the ability to predict the effect of a drug before dosing, based on pre-dose metabolic profiles, Nature 2006), and he also co-led the research project and clinical trial that demonstrated pharmacometabonomics in humans for the first time (PNAS 2009). He is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College, London. Jeremy received his BSc and PhD in chemistry from Nottingham University, UK. He did post-doctoral studies in NMR at McMaster University and at McGill University in Canada. Jeremy has published over 80 scientific papers and reviews and has one granted patent. His h-index is 24, with over 3,000 total citations.


Metabolomics Interview (MN, MetaboNews; JE, Jeremy Everett)

 MN: How did you get involved in metabolomics?

JE: I was working at Beecham Pharmaceuticals R&D Headquarters at Brockham Park in Surrey, UK, in 1983, where there was a big focus on the discovery and development of novel antibiotics, including new penicillins. I felt that with their geminal-dimethyl groups acting as almost perfect NMR detectors, that proton NMR spectra of human and animal biofluids should be an excellent way of monitoring penicillin metabolism. Each drug-related molecule above the detection threshold has a pair of sharp, singlet signals for the gem-dimethyls in the 1H NMR spectrum. So, borrowing time on the Queen Mary College, London, 400 MHz NMR spectrometer, we started some early biofluid NMR studies of drug metabolism and it worked out very well.

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

JE: Our work at Pfizer Global R & D in collaboration with the group of Professor Jeremy Nicholson at Imperial College London led to the discovery of pharmacometabonomics in animals (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16625200) and in humans (http://www.pnas.org/content/106/34/14728.full). This turned the normal paradigm of metabonomics, as we defined it, on its head. Instead of using metabonomics to monitor changes in metabolite profiles as a result of an intervention, we used pre-intervention metabolite profiles to predict responses to drugs before dosing. A particularly exciting element of the work on the prediction of the metabolism of paracetamol (acetaminophen) in humans is the discovery of the key role of the microbiome in influencing drug metabolism. I believe that pharmacometabonomics will be a major contributor to personalised or precision medicine in the future, and complementary to pharmacogenomics.

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

 JE: Our current initiatives, in collaboration with groups at University College London and at Horizon Discovery, Cambridge, are focused on understanding the metabolic correlates of genetic modification in mice and in human cells of importance in cancer. The work in mice is more advanced and is providing fascinating insights into the interplay between the genome and the microbiome in controlling phenotypic changes consequent upon gene knockout. All of our work is conducted under the auspices of the Medway Metabonomics Research Group at the University of Greenwich, UK (http://www2.gre.ac.uk/about/faculty/engsci/research/groups/mmrg).

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

JE: A major development in terms of metabonomics has been the launch of the National Phenome Centre (http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/phenomecentre/) which gives a huge boost to the UK in terms of metabolic phenotyping capabilities in mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy, to deliver new biomarkers and improvements in stratified medicine and translational medicine.

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

 JE: One application of our work in the future will be to provide better personalised medicine to patients via developments in pharmacometabonomics. The key technology for personalised medicine at the present time is pharmacogenomics but this has not delivered as much value as was initially envisaged. The time is therefore ripe for metabolic profiling to play a bigger role in personalised medicine. This is a critical need given the fact that many patients experience either no benefit or toxic side effects from drugs that they are administered. Having better methods to discriminate responders from non-responders in advance of drug dosing is a critical need in 21st Century medicine.

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

JE: The ability of metabonomics to report on environmental factors which impact on physiology and health, as well as genetic factors is a great advantage. In particular, the ability of metabolic profiling to report on the influence of the microbiome is a great strength. Genomics tells us what might happen to an organism in the future. By contrast, metabonomics reports on the status of the whole organism, in real time, in a systems biology fashion.

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

 JE: One of the greatest barriers to metabonomics is the issue of metabolite identification. This is a problem for both mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy approaches to metabolite profiling. The problem is in two parts. Firstly, the structure elucidation of novel, unknown metabolites. This is a significant challenge and one that requires approaches that are parallel to those adopted in the natural products community for the identification of a novel natural product, i.e., isolation of the compound and full structure elucidation by NMR, MS, and probably infrared and ultraviolet spectroscopies. Secondly, and more commonly, the structure confirmation of known metabolites. This is also challenging in spite of the development of powerful databases such as the Human Metabolome Database (HMDB). We have recently proposed a new way to tackle this problem for NMR-based metabonomics with an approach known as metabolite identification carbon efficiency (MICE: see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4348432). This new approach borrows ideas from the development of the concept of ligand efficiency in drug discovery. The Figure below shows a histogram of the MICE values for 75 known metabolites identified in some of our recent studies. The MICE values are simply the number of pieces of metabolite identification information per carbon atom in the metabolite, shown separately for four different levels of NMR spectroscopy from simple 1D 1H NMR up to 1D 1H NMR plus 2D 1H COSY, HSQC, and HMBC data. The MICE values are one important indicator of the confidence of the identification of a known metabolite.

Metabolite identification carbon efficiency for 75 metabolites
MN: What improvements, technological or otherwise, need to take place for metabolomics to really take off?

JE: As mentioned above, one of the key barriers for metabonomics is the problem of metabolite identification. This problem could be significantly alleviated by the development of a new generation of metabolite databases with improved querying powers. Current methods of interrogating metabolite databases are adequate but rudimentary and there is much scope for improved metabolite identification through the ability to formulate more complex database queries. In addition, there are currently many isolated metabolite databases operating in silos. It would be preferable to link the information in these databases together for the benefit of all.

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

JE: In the current financial climate, funding is very tight everywhere but I am optimistic about the share of research funding that metabonomics can attract, as it is a technology that provides an ‘open window’ interrogation of the actual metabolic status of an organism and the influence of both genetic and environmental factors. In this respect, metabonomics is a unique and valuable technology.

 MN: What role can metabolomics standards play?

 JE: Standards have a critical role to play in metabolic profiling. For example, it is important that research publications in metabonomics provide full information on how metabolites were identified, thus making it easier to assess quality. The Metabolomics Standards Initiative has made progress in this area. It is hoped that new ideas such as the metabolite identification carbon efficiency (MICE) indicator, mentioned above, will help in this respect. In addition, the use of data repositories such as MetaboLights (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/metabolights/), which is hosted by the European Bioinformatics Institute, is very much to be encouraged.

MN: Do you have any other comments that you wish to share about metabolomics?
JE: Design experiments well and there is no such thing as a bad result: biology is always telling you something!

 
Please note: We are open to suggestions for our MetaboInterviews section. Please send suggestions for future interview candidates to Ian Forsythe at metabolomics.innovation@gmail.com.
Metabolomics Current Contents

Metabolomics Current Contents

 This section of MetaboNews is supported by:
LECO Corporation

Recently published papers in metabolomics:
Metabolomics Events

Metabolomics Events
6-7 May 2015

Innovations in Omics Research and Translational Medicine
Venue: Eschborn, Germany

Innovations in Omics Research and Translational Medicine Agenda

Waters invites you to a free Innovations in Omics Research and Translational Medicine meeting on May 6-7th in Eschborn, Germany focused on mass spectrometry based solutions for omics research and translational medicine.
Register: http://www.waters.com/omics2015

During this event you will learn about :
  • State of the art proteomic and metabolomic workflows
  • Strategies for robust quantitative analysis in large sample sets
  • Customised research kits for translational medicine
  • Ambient ionisation mass spectrometry for direct analysis and imaging applications in food and environmental, and health sciences
  • Emerging applications and technology with leaders in the field
Join us and gain the benefits from live demonstrations of Omics and Translational Medicine technology, and interesting conversations with experienced application scientists.
11-14 May 2015

2015 SECIM Workshop
Venue: Gainesville, Florida, USA

The 2nd Annual SECIM Metabolomics Workshop will be held Monday, May 11 through Thursday, May 14, 2015, in Gainesville, Florida.

This year’s workshop focuses on metabolomics data processing, data analysis, and metabolite identification, including hands-on training sessions. Attendees are required to bring their own laptops in order to conduct hands-on data analysis. A quick overview of metabolomics, and an introduction to the analytical instrumentation will also be covered.

Registration
Due to limited space, registration for the 2015 SECIM Workshop is capped at a maximum of 40 attendees.
Register Here: 2015 SECIM Workshop Registration Form

Click here for the event flyer

For more information, visit http://secim.ufl.edu/workshops/.
21-22 May 2015

2nd Metabolomics - Advances & Applications in Human Disease Conference
Venue: Boston, Massachusetts

GTCbio is proud to present the 2nd Metabolomics - Advances & Applications in Human Disease Conference, which will be part of The Pan-Omics Summit and takes place May 21-22, 2015 in Boston, MA.

There is still significant human variability in metabolite identification for targets and pathways. These challenges affect the advancement in metabolomics, the use of biomarkers, and its application towards cancer, metabolic disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. Join us for an event that presents new research and offers networking opportunities with the researchers and scientists who are working on developing clinical assays, connecting the metabolome and the genome, and establishing common quality standards for experimental data.

Sessions:
     I. Advances in Metabolite Markers
     II. Metabolite Identification - Targets and Pathways
     III. Computational Approaches to Assessing the Metabolome
     IV. Technological Advances in Metabolomics

Panel:
     I. Clinical Applications of Metabolomics

For more information, visit https://www.gtcbio.com/conferences/metabolomics-overview.
14-18 Jun 2015

3rd Annual Workshop on Metabolomics
Location: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA

The course is jointly sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) as part of the NIH Common Fund Metabolomics Initiative, and the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacology and Toxicology at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). There is fellowship support for young scientists (graduate students and postdocs) to attend the meeting. The workshop is limited to 40 attendees.

The themes in this third year of the workshop are:
  1. Experimental design of a metabolomics experiment
  2. Sample stability and extraction methods
  3. Analytical systems (nuclear magnetic resonance and gas and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry)
    • Targeted metabolomics
    • Untargeted metabolomics
    • Quantitative metabolomics
  4. Pre-processing of analytical data
  5. Statistical analysis of the data
  6. Metabolite databases – integration with MSMS data
  7. Identification of metabolites
  8. Metabolite pathway analysis
  9. Advances in metabolomics
For further details, visit http://www.uab.edu/proteomics/metabolomics/workshop/workshop_june_2015.php.
15-16 Jun 2015

Informatics and Statistics for Metabolomics (2015)
Location: Downtown Montreal, Quebec, 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: Familiarity with R is required. Familiarity can be gained through online activities. You should be familiar with these R concepts (chapters 1-5) or review the past Statistics tutorials provided by CBW.

Apply Now
Award Opportunities

 For further details, visit http://bioinformatics.ca/workshops/2015/informatics-and-statistics-metabolomics-2015.
15-18 Jun 2015

Metabolomics Summer Workshop
Venue: Kellogg Eye Center (Kellogg Auditorium), 1000 Wall Street, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

The Michigan Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Resource Core (MRC)2 is presenting a four-day Metabolomics Summer Workshop, June 15-18, 2015.   

This workshop is intended for investigators seeking a solid foundation to expand their research using metabolomics.

Sessions include:
  • Study design
  • Sample collection
  • Analytical methods
  • Data processing, statistical analysis, and metabolite identification
  • Exploratory analysis with bioinformatics tools
  • Case study applications
  • Hands-on training with pathway and heatmap tools    
Click here for last year's schedule (PDF).

 For further details, visit http://mrc2.umich.edu/Events_Summer_Workshop.php.
16-19 Jun 2015

Metabolic Phenotyping in Disease Diagnosis & Personalised Health Care
Location: London, UK
Venue: Imperial College London

This 4-day metabolic phenotyping short course is designed to provide a fundamental education platform to students, junior researchers and clinicians in the field of metabolic profiling. The course will begin with an introduction to metabolic phenotyping by a leading expert (Prof. Jeremy K Nicholson) in the field, and will explain the basic analytical techniques commonly used in this area including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Key steps involved in metabolic profiling will be discussed in the following sessions including study design, quality control strategies, data analysis and interpretation, and metabolite identification. Laboratory tour and hands-on data analysis will be included to promote the learning effectiveness and experience. The course will be finished with tips, tricks and traps in metabolic profiling and up-to-date applications of metabolic phenotyping in various research areas, for example, clinical application, cancer, metabolic diseases and infectious diseases.

 For further details, visit http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/resources/D84E5488-E7A5-475D-8EDC-32FB0B0522A9/met_pheno_nov_2015june_preliminary.pdf.
29 Jun to 2 Jul 2015

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

You are invited to join us for Metabolomics 2015, the official annual meeting of the Metabolomics Society.

This stunning world-class venue will host the most exciting metabolomics conference of 2015. Your host institution, the University of California, Davis, will gladly welcome scientists from all around the world to feel at home and relax while hearing of the latest innovations and breakthroughs in metabolomics.

Please see the Open Call for Organization of Workshops

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.

 For further details, visit http://metabolomics2015.org.
26-28 Aug 2015

Bio&Data “Mountain Village Science Series” (MOVISS 2015)
Venue: Karlova Studanka, Czech Republic

Bio&Data is the first workshop of newly established “Mountain Village Science Series” (MOVISS). It will take place on August 26-28, 2015 in the small village of Karlova Studanka in the Czech Republic. Bio&Data is problem-driven meeting, full of discussions and posing questions about how to deal with chemometrical data properly. There will be four sessions (data generation, data curation, computation/analysis, and interpretation) devoted to the whole process of the extraction and processing of data in the biosciences. Each section will consist of one (or at most two) keynote contributions, followed by discussion, brief and contributions from selected participants and panel discussion.

For further details, visit http://www.moviss.org/.
21-25 Sep 2015

W4M Course 2015: Computational Metabolomics within the Galaxy Environment on the Online Workflow4Metabolomics.org (W4M) Resource
Venue: ABiMS Bioinformatics Institute, Roscoff, France

The Worflow4Metabolomics Course 2015 (W4M 2015) will take place at the ABiMS bioinformatics Institute (Roscoff, France) on September 21-25, 2015. This one-week training session is intended for MS and NMR researchers wishing to learn the functionalities from the W4M resource. It will include an initiation to the Galaxy environment, followed by dedicated practical sessions covering the available modules for data preprocessing, statistical analysis, and annotation. Finally, a tutoring part will enable each participant to analyse his or her own dataset. Presentations will be given in French but course materials will be in English.

Program Schedule: http://workflow4metabolomics.org/training/W4Mcourse2015/program
Practical Information: http://workflow4metabolomics.org/training/W4Mcourse2015/practical-info
Preregistration (deadline of May 8, 2015): http://workflow4metabolomics.org/training/W4Mcourse2015/registration-form

Organizing Committee
Cécile Canlet, Christophe Caron, Franck Giacomoni, Yann Guitton, Gildas Le Corguillé, and Étienne Thévenot.

For further details, visit http://workflow4metabolomics.org/training/W4Mcourse2015.
7-9 Dec 2015

MetaboMeeting 2015
Venue: Robinson College, Cambridge, UK

SELECTBIO are delighted to announce that we are once again partnering with the Metabolic Profiling Forum (MPF) to host the Metabomeeting 2015. 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 270 attendees offering a unique opportunity to network with key researchers who are making innovative discoveries within this field.   We are also delighted to announce that this year the registration price includes a wonderful dinner reception which will be held on Tuesday 8th December in the Magnificent Kings College Dining Hall.

Agenda Topics
  • Advancing Biological Knowledge from Single Cells to Whole Organisms
  • Applying Metabolomics to Nutritional Support and Food Analysis
  • Clinical Development in Metabolomics
  • Enhancing Analytical Approaches in Metabolomics
  • Modelling and Data Analysis
  • New Developments in Plant Metabolomics
  • Next Generation Metabolomics - Where will the Revolution will Happen Next
  • Structure and Reporting of Metabolomics: Data to Knowledge
For further details, visit http://selectbiosciences.com/conferences/index.aspx?conf=Metabo2015.

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
Postdoc, Northwest Metabolomics Research Center
 University of Washington Seattle, Washington, USA 17-Apr-2015
 31-May-2015 or until filled
 Metabolomics Society Jobs
Postdoc, Mitochondria and Metabolism Center University of Washington Seattle, Washington, USA 17-Apr-2015
 31-May-2015 or until filled Metabolomics Society Jobs
Bioinformatician (Metabolomics)
 Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry Halle, Germany 8-Apr-2015
 Open until filled
 Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry
Research Assistant I, Metabolomics Core Facility
 Sanford-Burnham Medical
Research Institute		 Orlando, Florida, USA 3-Mar-2015
 Open until filled
 Metabolomics Society Jobs
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Fernandez Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
 Georgia Institute of Technology
 Atlanta, Georgia, USA 19-Feb-2015
 Open until filled Georgia Institute of Technology
Computational Metabolomics Professor
 Pennsylvania State University
State College,
Pennsylvania, USA 		26-Jan-2015
Metabolomics Society Jobs


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.
  • There are currently no positions being advertised.

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