MetaboNews Masthead
Published in partnership between
TMIC and the Metabolomics Society
Issue 32 - April 2014

CONTENTS:


Online version of this newsletter:
http://www.metabonews.ca/Apr2014/MetaboNews_Apr2014.htm

Welcome to the thirty-second 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 Software Spotlight article on MassHunter Profinder, new software for batch feature extraction of Agilent mass spectrometry data, and a metabolomics interview with Louise Kenny of University College Cork, Cork University Maternity Hospital, and the newly funded Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translation Research (INFANT).
This issue of MetaboNews is supported by:

Biocrates -- Standardized Metabolic Phenotyping  
      		Chenomx -- Metabolite Discovery & Measurement
Biocrates Life Sciences AG
Chenomx Inc.

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Metabolomics Society Logo

Metabolomics Society News


FINAL REMINDERS for two Metabolomics Society organised conferences!!

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

Important dates:
•    Abstract Deadline for Oral Presentations Extended to midnight of April 6th 2014 (GMT)
All accepted abstracts by this deadline will be put on the official booklet. After this deadline, we will still accept late-breaking posters. These posters will be put in a room different from the exhibition area and their abstracts will NOT be included in the booklet, but only as a handout.
•    Early Registration Deadline: April 10th 2014
•    Deadline for Late Poster Abstracts: Midnight of April 30th 2014 (GMT)
•    Regular Registration Deadline: May 29th 2014

•    Plenary and keynote speakers have been announced, and talks are now being selected from the abstracts submitted for oral presentation: http://metabolomics2014.org/index.php/program/speakers
•    Registration is open: http://metabolomics2014.org/index.php/participate/register
•    Poster abstract submission is open: http://metabolomics2014.org/index.php/submission/abstract

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
•    and more....

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.

Metabolomics Society / Royal Society of Chemistry ‘Analytical Tools for Cutting-edge Metabolomics’ conference
Location: Chemistry Centre, Burlington House, London, UK
Date: April 30th 2014
Website: http://www.rsc.org/ConferencesAndEvents/conference/alldetails.cfm?evid=114962

Important dates:
•    Registration Deadline: 11th April, 2014

This is the first in a new series of shorter, science topic-focused Metabolomics Society organised, or jointly organised, meetings. Analytical chemistry has been one of the driving forces behind the development of metabolomics research over the past decade. The conference will bring together exceptional scientists for a program consisting of plenary and invited talks, posters, as well as an oral session devoted to early career researchers. It will be an excellent opportunity for analytical chemists to learn more about metabolomics and its application, and for metabolomics scientists to improve their knowledge of cutting-edge bioanalytical tools.

We have a fantastic line up of speakers including:
•    Professor Jeremy Nicholson (Imperial College, London, UK)
•    Professor Roy Goodacre (University of Manchester, UK)
•    Dr Julian Griffin (MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge, UK)
•    Dr Steffen Neumann (Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, IPB Halle, Germany)
•    Professor Paul Thomas (Loughborough University, UK)
•    Professor Jean-Luc Wolfender (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
•    Plus 4 contributed presentations from early career scientists


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.

Analytical Tools for Cutting-edge Metabolomics—a joint meeting of the Analytical Division of the RSC and the International Metabolomics Society
Many of you will already be aware that in April there will be an exciting 1-day conference in London, UK, hosted jointly by the Metabolomics Society and Royal Society of Chemistry. As part of our initial drive towards establishment, and our ultimate goal to serve early-career members, we are delighted to announce that the EMN will be present—and prepared to make the most of the occasion. So throughout the day, EMN committee members will be looking to engage, connect and publicise to all—so please come and say hello. We couldn’t think of a more enticing warm up to Tsuruoka 2014.

10th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society
We cannot wait to see you at the 10th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society in Tsuruoka. The EMN will host two workshops tailored for the needs of the early-career members:
  1. Scientific writing and Grant writing - how to get your work published and how to get metabolomics research funded (Speakers to be decided).
  2. Identification of unknown metabolites
    Our confirmed speakers for this section include: Oliver Fiehn (UC Davis, USA), David Watson (University of Strathclyde, UK), Krista Zanneti (Program Director of NIH, USA), Eiichiro Fukusaki (Osaka University, Japan) and our very own EMN committee member Ralf Weber (University of Birmingham, UK).
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.

To attend the conference and workshops, you can apply for the Metabolomics Society Travel Awards and Prizes. If you are a student, there are some great student travel bursaries on offer but please note that you MUST be a student member of the Society for 3 months to be eligible.

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


Membership Renewal for 2014
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://www.metabolomicssociety.org/membership
Status of Data Standards
This section is contributed regularly by Christoph Steinbeck (Chair of the Society’s Data Standards Task Group) and Reza Salek (Reza.Salek@ebi.ac.uk) from the EMBL-EBI, Cambridge UK.

Joint COSMOS and HUPO PSI Meeting: In April 13-16 the COSMOS (COordination Of Standards In MetabOlomicS) is planning to participate and to have a joint meeting with the proteomics HUPO Proteomics Standards Initiative community. This meeting will take place in Schloss Reinhartshausen Kempinski, Nr Frankfurt, Germany. HUPO-PSI has defined community standards for data representation in proteomics and has facilitated data comparison, exchange and verification within the proteomics community. Many open source MS formats including: mzML, mzTab, mzIdentML and mzQuantML as well as guidelines for minimum information reporting for proteomic and peptide identification have been developed within this initiative. Working closely with the HUPO-PSI community should benefit the metabolomics community, particularly the COSMOS effort in development of open MS exchange formats for metabolomics. We also hope to contribute to the development of the MS-based controlled vocabulary by PSI-MS by adding the metabolomics community ontology requirement and terminology artifacts.

More details can be found at:
http://cosmos-fp7.eu/PSI
http://www.psidev.info/psi2014


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:
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

Software Spotlight

 Agilent Technologies Logo

MassHunter Profinder: New Software for Batch Feature Extraction of Agilent MS Data

Feature article contributed by Theodore Sana, Metabolomics and Lipidomics Marketing Manager, Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, USA

 MassHunter Profinder is the latest member of the MassHunter family of Agilent software products, developed for finding features in complex mass spectrometric data.

As the time and cost of acquiring data for differential profiling has decreased, there has been increasing demand for more powerful feature extraction software that is capable of finding more compounds in more samples, with fewer errors, and in less time.

Profinder supports feature extraction for untargeted and targeted discovery workflows of high resolution, accurate mass, raw data files. Profinder significantly reduces the noise associated with metabolomics profiling by employing a new two-step Batch Recursive Feature Extraction workflow.

Feature Extraction and Recursion Combined in a Single Workflow

Unlike our earlier workflow for recursive analysis that required shuttling of feature extracted data files between two separate software platforms—MassHunter Qualitative Analysis (Qual) and Mass Profiler Professional (MPP)—Batch Recursive Feature Extraction combines all these tasks in a single software package, MassHunter Profinder, our latest software program (Figure 1) that is the fastest, most sensitive, and most robust chemometric peak finding tool available.

Overview of Agilent workflow for untargeted and/or targeted discovery analysis of profiling data

Figure 1. Overview of Agilent workflow for untargeted and/or targeted discovery analysis of profiling data. MassHunter Qualitative Analysis (Qual) is typically used for feature extraction of only a few samples; MassHunter Profinder is for Batch Extraction of multiple data files.

Key highlights of Profinder are that it:
The two-step Batch Recursive Feature Extraction workflow first aligns the files, applies user-defined filters, and then performs recursive sample analysis, resulting in a final compound list.

Batch Recursive Feature Extraction

Figure 2. Batch Recursive Feature Extraction: There are two post-alignment compound filtering steps: Filter 1 occurs after Batch Molecular Feature Extraction (rMFE) and Filter 2 after using the Filter 1 input list for generating a list of more accurate compound abundances (rFind by Ion); this significantly reduces the burden of manual post-alignment compound editing.

Visualization and Editing of Results

Profinder supports various modes of colorations and the overlay of as many chromatograms as there are in the experiment (Figure 3). A convenient way of scrolling through each extracted compound is to overlay all the sample replicates for each condition or group.

Four windows summarize all the feature extraction results

Figure 3. Four windows summarize all the feature extraction results after running a wizard-driven method for filtering data. One window shows all the compound groups that were found across all the samples. Another window displays a compound details table for each sample in the compound group, and includes associated quality metrics; a window of EIC overlays for 4 separate treatment conditions, colored by condition; and a window showing spectra for each sample.

In addition, various manual chromatogram editing tasks are permitted, such re-integrating EIC(s) (Figure 4), or deleting poor chromatographic peaks. Profinder’s intuitive peak re-integration capabilities translate to superior results by significantly reducing the number of false positives and false negatives. This capability is important since it has a pronounced impact on subsequent differential analysis, statistics, compound identification, and pathway mapping. Ultimately, this enhancement translates to more accurate results and to increased productivity.

Coloration and EICs overlay modes

Figure 4. The EIC results are integrated and shown as solid AUC for three of four samples. If the user wants to override the tolerance setting for EIC generation, simply select across the left and right baselines of the peak(s) (A) and re-integrate the peak (B). Now all four windows show EICs that have been integrated and save the results.

To highlight the advantages of using Batch Recursive Feature Extraction over Batch MFE (rMFE) alone, we summarized the results of feature extraction that was performed on a set of 36 Yeast sample extracts, from 4 different treatment conditions; i.e., nine biological replicates each. Figure 5 shows histograms of the coefficient of variation (CV%) error in measured abundances for compound groups aligned by mass and retention time (RT) across all 36 sample files using (5A) Batch Recursive Feature Extraction (rMFE plus rFind by Ion—see Figure 2), and (5B) Batch MFE only. The lower CV% values reflect higher quality abundance measurements within a given compound group. Conversely, the higher CV% values suggest missing or incorrect chromatogram peak integrations within a given compound group. The histogram in Figure 5A for Batch Recursive Feature Extraction is clearly shifted to the left (i.e., lower CV%) compared to Batch MFE, Figure 5B. Moreover, the cumulative percentage of compound groups with lower CV% values has increased as the histogram distribution has shifted to lower variance rates. This suggests an overall improvement for within compound group variability.

Distributions of binned compound percent coefficient of variation (CV %) and their frequency using Batch Recursive Feature Extraction
(A)

Distributions of binned compound percent coefficient of variation (CV %) and their frequency using Batch MFE
(B)

Figure 5. Distributions of binned compound percent coefficient of variation (CV %) and their frequency using (A) Batch Recursive Feature Extraction, and (B) Batch MFE. The red line represents the cumulative percent of compounds at a given CV%.

In summary, the development of MassHunter Profinder demonstrates Agilent’s commitment to sophisticated software solutions that address some of the more challenging metabolomics data processing problems such as feature extraction. This is important because of how feature extraction critically impacts how we interpret all subsequent steps such as differential profiling and multi-variant statistics analysis in programs such as Mass Profiler Professional (MPP). The simple file export functionality in Profinder ensures a seamless workflow and translates to an overall improved user experience.

MassHunter Profinder is part of the MassHunter Qualitative Analysis and Mass Profiler Professional (MPP) software packages, and is currently included at no additional cost.

FAQs
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

MetaboInterviews
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 Louise Kenny.

Louise Kenny
Professor of Obstetrics at University College Cork, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Cork University Maternity Hospital, and Director of the newly funded Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translation Research (INFANT), Cork, Ireland
 Professor Louise Kenny
Biography
Louise Kenny (MB ChB (hons), PhD, MRCOG) is Professor of Obstetrics at University College Cork (UCC), a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Cork University Maternity Hospital and director of the newly funded Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translation Research (INFANT), Ireland’s first perinatal research centre. Louise has a longstanding clinical and research interest in uteroplacental insufficiency, adverse pregnancy outcome and pregnancy loss. Since her move to Ireland in 2006, Louise has raised over €18 million in external awarded peer reviewed grants and has developed a research group consisting of more than 40 researchers from a wide variety of clinical and scientific disciplines. In 2007, Louise was appointed as a Health Research Board Ireland Clinician Scientist. This 4 year award (of €1.6 million) underpinned the Screening for Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) Study, a prospective longitudinal case cohort of pregnancy outcome which also forms part of one of the world’s most detailed global pregnancy biobanks (www.scopestudy.net).

In July 2009, Louise was awarded a Principal Investigator Programme grant from Science Foundation Ireland to continue her group’s pioneering new approach to biomarker development by focusing on metabolic changes in plasma. Using the SCOPE cohort, the Kenny group has discovered a consistent discriminatory metabolite signature in early pregnancy plasma preceding the onset of pre-eclampsia. This finding provides insight into disease pathogenesis, and offers the tantalizing promise of a robust presymptomatic screening test. Louise was awarded a Translational Award from the Wellcome Trust to develop these biomarkers into a clinically useful predictive test. This technology has recently been licensed to a campus based spin-out (www.metabolomicdiagnostics.com) and Louise has recently been awarded a €6 million grant under the auspices of the 7th Framework Programme for research to conduct a phase IIa clinical study of this test and platform (www.fp7-improved.eu).

In addition, together with her co-PIs in the Department of Paediatrics at UCC, Louise has established BASELINE (Babies After SCOPE, Evaluating Longitudinal Indices of Neurological and Nutritional Endpoints, www.baselinestudy.net). Funded by the Children’s Research Centre, the BASELINE study is the first longitudinal birth cohort study in Ireland and as such is a unique resource.

Louise’s work has resulted in >150 peer reviewed original papers, reviews and book chapters. She is the Editor of the 19th Edition of ‘Obstetrics by Ten Teachers’, the world’s leading undergraduate textbook in obstetrics and has received numerous awards including the William Blair Bell Lectureship from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) for contributions to original research in the field of women’s health. In addition, Louise is a reviewer for a wide range of international journals and research funding bodies and is a member of the RCOG Wellbeing of Women Scientific Advisory committee.

Metabolomics Interview (MN, MetaboNews; LK, Louise Kenny)

MN: How did you get involved in metabolomics?

LK: I trained as a medical doctor and specialized in obstetrics and gynaecology. During my post-graduate training, I took a research post in Nottingham in the vascular physiology of a pregnancy specific condition called pre-eclampsia, which developed into a 4 year PhD. When this finished I moved to Manchester in 2000 as a clinical lecturer under the supervision of Phil Baker, Chair of Maternal and Fetal Health, around the same time that Professor Doug Kell was appointed as the Chair of Analytical Chemistry. Doug was looking for clinically interesting problems to which he could apply metabolomic profiling. Phil and I suggested that pre-eclampsia might be a good place to start. Like all successful collaborations, it started with our first meeting in a pub near Doug's office in the Chemistry Department where we plotted our first study. Since then we have applied metabolomic technology to a range of clinical problems in pregnancy, largely searching for robust biomarkers of prediction and diagnosis.

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

LK: Pre-eclampsia is responsible for 70,000-100,000 maternal deaths per year and the deaths of over 500,000 babies. Our understanding of the aetiology of the disease is patchy at best and until recently there were absolutely no robust screening tests available to predict which women may be a risk. This has significantly hampered the development of effective treatments. Our work in metabolomics has shed fascinating insights into the biology of the underlying disease process and has also yielded the tantalizing prospect of an early pregnancy metabolomic-based screening test. During my day job (which frequently has me in the hospital at night) I treat really sick mothers with pre-eclampsia—and I know firsthand how devastating this condition is. The most exciting aspect of our work for me—is that it has the very real potential to save the lives of mothers and their babies.

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

LK: At the moment we are focusing our efforts on a phase IIa study funded by FP7 which is seeking to trial our metabolomic-based screening test in 5000 low-risk, first-time mothers from across Europe. The study launched last month (December 2013). More details can be found here: http://www.fp7-improved.eu/. We are also working on the related condition—fetal growth restriction and another part of my group is working on the metabolomic profiling of pre-term birth.

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

LK: I relocated to Ireland in 2006 and have spent the last few years raising funding for our programme. We have been very successful and in June 2013 we were awarded research centre funding from Science Foundation Ireland. This €13 million grant has led to the launch of Ireland's first perinatal research centre, the Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT) (www.infantcentre.ie). A major focus of INFANT will be the validation of biomarkers for prediction and diagnosis in perinatal medicine. We have partnered with a large multinational mass spec platform provider and we are now recruiting senior systems biologists and mass spec technicians. The future of metabolomics in Ireland looks very promising right now!

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

LK: Personalized medicine is the future. One only has to review the current Health Call from Horizon 2020 to see this. It's clear that all omics based technologies will have a role to play in delivering the vision of stratified or personalised healthcare. Doug Kell, Phil Baker and I often reflect on the fact that when we started out on this journey 14 years ago—we couldn't have made things more difficult for ourselves. We picked a complicated disease (pre-eclampsia), a complex biological fluid (blood) and we asked for the Holy Grail—early pregnancy prediction remote from the time of diagnosis. 14 years on, however, and the platforms and bioinformatics have now developed to the point where we really believe we can actually deliver what we set out to achieve. I hope that our programme will inspire others to apply metabolomic technologies to different areas of clinical medicine in need of more robust biomarkers.

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

LK: I have always believed that the strength of metabolomics lies within its proximity to phenotype. This makes the metabolome the most fruitful of the 'omics arena in which to search for biomarkers which will actually translate to improvement in clinical care. As a clinician I am very aware of the many false dawns that emerged from other the omics fields. That's not to say that metabolomics is not without challenges—but the relatively small number of metabolites, the fact they are highly conserved across species and respond rapidly to a change in phenotype means that the metabolome remains the most likely 'omic field to yield clinically useful biomarkers.

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

LK: One of my greatest frustrations is that—even now—we still do not have a universal appreciation of how important sample curation and clinical phenotyping is when performing metabolomic discovery. Poorly curated samples and a lack of adequate phenotyping have led to some high profile false discoveries which have set the field back considerably. Simply put—rubbish in equals rubbish out—and frequently the waste of significant research funding chasing artifacts of poor storage or confounding clinical conditions. We also made similar mistakes in the early days before we realized how important gold standard biobanking and data collection were to the program. A large part of our funding is invested in biobanks such as SCOPE (www.scopestudy.net) and IMPROvED, which provide pristinely curated samples aligned to rigorous and copious metadata for biomarker discovery and validation to the wider scientific community. However, biobanks are expensive and whilst everyone wants to access them, funding them is challenging.

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

LK: I think that metabolomics has already taken off—but we are still on the ascent. The successful clinical application of metabolomic technology to common problems such as pregnancy complications will require platforms capable of delivering high-throughput screening aligned to robust bioinformatics. However, the biggest barrier I believe will revolve around obtaining regulatory approval for novel predictive algorithms. Early engagement with regulatory authorities is essential and we are currently feeling our way around this within the IMPROvED programme.

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

LK: We have been fortunate to secure funding for our programme from a wide variety of sources including the British Heart Foundation, the Welcome Trust, FP7 and Science foundation Ireland. Latterly, we have found that industry is more and more willing to support research into the clinical application of metabolomics and I think that this will only increase.

 MN: What role can metabolomics standards play?

LK: Standards are critically important, particularly when translating metabolomic discovery into clinically applicable tests. The lack of standards is one reason why achieving regulatory approval for metabolomic-based clinical tests will be challenging. There are already numerous publicly available and often free databases and software packages for metabolomic identification and analysis. However, the standardization and governance are lacking. Metabolomics is a relatively new and evolving field and this will develop in time.

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

LK:  Metabolomics is only possible with multidisciplinary input. My research group is increasingly diverse and now includes chemists, computational biologists, programmers, statisticians and bioinformaticians working alongside clinicians, engineers and physiologists. It's a young and vibrant, rapidly evolving space to be working in and one which has tremendous promise to impact health outcomes. I would encourage anyone contemplating a research career in metabolomics to jump in head first.
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 metabolic syndrome in overweight/obese women and esophageal cancer, respectively.
  1. Wiklund PK, Pekkala S, Autio R, Munukka E, Xu L, Saltevo J, Cheng S, Kujala UM, Alen M, Cheng S. Serum metabolic profiles in overweight and obese women with and without metabolic syndrome. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2014 Mar 20;6(1):40. [Epub ahead of print] [PMID: 24650495]

In this paper, the investigators used a metabolomics approach to distinguish between physically inactive overweight/obese women with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and metabolically healthy subjects. Using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to profile serum samples from fasting individuals, they sought to identify metabolic differences between 78 fat mass and body weight matched overweight/obese premenopausal women with and without MetS. To qualify as having MetS, individual patients had to meet three of the following five criteria: waist circumference >=88 cm, serum triacylglycerol >=1.7 mmol/L, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) <1.30 mmol/L, blood pressure >= 130/85 mmHg and fasting glucose >=5.6 mmol/L. The researchers discovered three metabolites that were associated with all clinical risk factors: branched-chain amino acids and aromatic amino acids and orosomucoid. With additional work, these results could be used to develop a public health screening tool to identify individuals at cardio-metabolic risk.

  1. Zhang X, Xu L, Shen J, Cao B, Cheng T, Zhao T, Liu X, Zhang H. Metabolic signatures of esophageal cancer: NMR-based metabolomics and UHPLC-based focused metabolomics of blood serum. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2013 Aug;1832(8):1207-16. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2013.03.009. Epub 2013 Mar 20. [PMID: 23524237]

There is a need for reliable biomarkers for early-stage detection of esophageal cancer (EC). In this study, the researchers analyzed serum samples from 25 patients with EC and 25 healthy controls using two different approaches: 1. a global proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based approach, and, 2. a focused ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC)-based approach. Combined with orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), they could differentiate between EC patients and healthy subjects. The UHPLC-based focused approach proved to be superior in sensitivity and specificity. In the EC samples, the investigators identified nineteen significantly altered metabolites and significant perturbations to the following pathways: energy metabolism, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, ketogenesis, glycolysis, lipid metabolism, and amino acid metabolism. These findings could lead to the development of a screening tool for early stage EC.

Metabolomics Current Contents

Metabolomics Current Contents

Recently published papers in metabolomics:
MetaboNews

MetaboNews
1 Apr 2014
Predicting Pre-Eclampsia: NMR Metabolomics

Marie Austdal - Researchers in Norway have found a useful set of biomarkers in urine and serum samples using NMR spectroscopy that are different between women who are not pregnant, those with normal pregnancies, and those with the debilitating and potentially life-threatening condition of pre-eclampsia.

Researchers in Norway have found a useful set of biomarkers in urine and serum samples using NMR spectroscopy that are different between women who are not pregnant, those with normal pregnancies, and those with the debilitating and potentially life-threatening condition of pre-eclampsia.

Marie Austdal, Ragnhild Bergene Skråstad, Astrid Solberg Gundersen, Rigmor Austgulen, Ann-Charlotte Iversen, Tone Frost Bathen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), in Trondheim, Norway, have explored how NMR metabolomics might be used to study pre-eclampsia, for improved phenotyping and elucidating potential clues to the condition's aetiology and pathogenesis.

Pre-eclampsia is characterized by high blood pressure, hypertension, and a high concentration of protein in the urine of some pregnant women, there is often associated damage to the liver, kidneys and maternal endothelium. It can give rise to intrauterine growth restriction and if left untreated may develop into eclampsia, which are life-threatening seizures during pregnancy. It is one of the more common complications of pregnancy although the cause is yet to be elucidated definitively and there is no cure. That said, early delivery of the baby and placenta usually dispels the symptoms, but that brings with it the associated problems of premature birth.

By definition, the condition arises after the 20th week of pregnancy, most often close to full term but in some cases the syndrome appears very early, and these are the most life-threatening to both mother and baby. It has been linked to inadequate development of the placenta during the first trimester of pregnancy thought to be caused by an inappropriate immune response. However, some cases develop after the delivery of the baby. Antihypertensive medication is usually prescribed to bring the blood pressure into a healthy range and preclude the development of seizures. However, intravenous magnesium sulfate is sometimes used and steroids are administered to promote the development of the foetal lung. New insights into the cause and effects of the disease revealed by the NMR studies offer new hope for the future control of this condition.

The team explains that identifying biomarkers for pre-eclampsia could allow much more timely detection and so lead to healthier mothers and children. The collaboration is based at the Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR) and the MR Cancer Group at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and details are reported in the journal Plos One.

"We have found that the metabolism in women who experience pre-eclampsia is clearly different from women with normal pregnancies," explains team member and NTNU graduate student Marie Austdal. "The differences suggest that pre-eclampsia has a similar profile to cardiovascular disease, and the inflammatory processes are reflected in the blood and urine of affected women. This abnormal metabolism may be present earlier, so that the disease may be predicted before onset." The biomarkers identified by the team correlate with metabolic issues in women as the condition develops during pregnancy. They were able to show a clear and significant difference in metabolomic profile between women from all three groups. Specifically, these differences could be linked to an increase in very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) fats and cholesterol for the pre-eclamptic women, and also reflect an increased stress response and inflammation in pre-eclampsia.

It is presumed that metabolic changes occur earlier than the manifestation of hypertension and proteinuria, which are the standard diagnostic symptoms. If it were possible to detect the onset of pre-eclampsia before it does any damage or its progress becomes entrenched, then it might be possible to intervene medically and prevent some women from developing the disease in the first place. The next step will simply be to use NMR to analyse samples taken from women in the earliest stages of pregnancy.

"The next step in this research is to analyse samples taken much earlier in pregnancy, around gestational week 12," Austdal told SpectroscopyNow. "Metabolomic profiling with NMR at this early stage may help identify women at risk of developing pre-eclampsia, so that they may be followed up more closely by their doctor during pregnancy. This research may also give clues to how and why the disease develops, an area in which many questions still remain."
  • Paper: Austdal M, Skråstad RB, Gundersen AS, Austgulen R, Iversen AC, Bathen TF. Metabolomic biomarkers in serum and urine in women with preeclampsia. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 17;9(3):e91923. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091923. eCollection 2014. [PMID: 24637620]
Source: spectroscopyNOW.com
6 Mar 2014
Matej Orešič Appointed Principal Investigator of Systems Medicine at the Steno Diabetes Center

 Press release from John Nolan, CEO of the Stenos Diabetes Center
Steno Diabetes Center is a world leading institution within diabetes care and prevention. Steno is owned by Novo Nordisk A/S and is a 'not for profit' organisation working in partnership with the Danish healthcare system. Steno treats around 5600 people with diabetes.

I am very pleased to announce that Professor Matej Orešič has been appointed to a new position as Principal Investigator, Systems Medicine, at the Steno Diabetes Center. Matej is a native of Slovenia, and during his impressive career to date he has made a significant contribution to the emerging fields of metabolomics, bioinformatics and systems biology – both nationally and internationally. His track record as a leader in these fields clearly demonstrates his ability to innovate and translate from basic laboratory science to a range of clinical fields including both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

After graduating in Physics from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, he completed his PhD in Biophysics at Cornell University. Prior to moving to Finland, Prof. Orešič was a head of computational biology and modeling at Waltham/Massachusetts-based BG Medicine, Inc. and bioinformatician at LION Bioscience Research in Cambridge/MA. Since 2003 he has led research in domains of quantitative biology and bioinformatics at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Espoo, Finland), where he is a Research Professor in Systems Biology and Bioinformatics. He is the Director of the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Molecular Systems Immunology and Physiology Research. His main research areas are metabolomics applications in biomedical research and integrative bioinformatics. He is particularly interested in the identification of disease vulnerabilities associated with different metabolic phenotypes and the underlying mechanisms linking these vulnerabilities with the development of specific disorders or their co-morbidities. Recent investigations include studies of longitudinal metabolic profiles of children who progressed to type 1 diabetes and studies of metabolic profiles in type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Alzheimer’s disease and psychotic disorders.

Matej Orešič is now an established international expert in the field of human metabolism. He has authored 180 peer reviewed papers, in addition to several reviews and a recent textbook “A Systems Biology Approach to Study Metabolic Syndrome”.

He is Principal Investigator on 8 current major programme grants, and was the only European scientist to be awarded a grant from the GE NFL Head Health Challenge programme in January 2014. Matej is a well-known and respected scientist in the Danish research community, with active and forthcoming collaborations both at Copenhagen University and the Novo Nordisk Center for Biosustainability at DTU.

Matej Orešič will take up his new position on April 1, 2014. I know that he is eager to move to Denmark and work with his new colleagues at Steno as well as to establish new collaborations in the Danish research community and abroad.

 
5 Mar 2014
Metabolon Enters Into Collaboration Agreement with Human Longevity Inc. to Provide Metabolomic Profiling Services
  • Founded by J. Craig Venter, Human Longevity is building the world’s most comprehensive database of human genotypes and phenotypes
  • Metabolon to carry out small molecule analysis on 10,000 subjects in the initial phase of the collaboration
Metabolon, Inc., the world’s leading commercial-stage metabolomics company, announces the signing of an agreement with newly-launched Human Longevity Inc. (HLI), whereby Metabolon will provide biochemical profiling services to assist HLI in its mission to tackle diseases of aging by building the world’s largest and most complete human genotype, microbiome and phenotype database. In the initial term of the agreement Metabolon will carry out small molecule analysis of 10,000 subjects and collaborate with HLI to map changes in the small molecules to end points of disease and gene mutations.
 
HLI cofounders are J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., Robert Hariri, M.D., Ph.D. and Peter H. Diamandis, M.D.  Dr. Venter, who is well known for leading Celera to the successful sequencing of the human genome, has been a member of Metabolon’s Scientific Advisory Board since 2003.
 
Under the agreement Metabolon will apply its leading metabolomics technology to augment the genetic and microbiome information HLI is collecting. Metabolon’s metabolomic approach identifies the full complement of metabolites present in a human biological specimen. Metabolomics is important because quantifying and understanding the full picture of circulating biochemicals in the body can help researchers get a clearer picture of that individual’s health status, and provide markers and pathways associated with disease and drug action. In addition, Metabolon will collaborate with HLI to identify small molecule biomarkers of disease, which Metabolon may then use to develop small molecule diagnostic tests.
 
Commenting on the agreement Dr. Venter said, “The establishment of HLI is the next step beyond the sequencing of the human genome, and may at last provide useful clinical information for the treatment of disease that was lacking from genome mapping alone.  Metabolon is a visionary and leader in the field of metabolomics, and I have great confidence in the company’s technology and ability to add significant value to HLI. Because of my position as a member of Metabolon’s Scientific Advisory Board, I have a deep personal appreciation of the company’s impressive methods and scientific expertise.”
 
John Ryals, Ph.D., Metabolon’s chief executive officer, said, “We are delighted to be aligned with HLI and the world-renowned scientific minds behind this new company.  It is thrilling to have the opportunity to make key contributions to the study of aging and we look forward to realizing the benefits of discovery.”

 

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
7-11 Apr 2014

Leiden University: Workshop Metabolomics 2014
Basics and Applications to Plant Sciences
Venue: Leiden, The Netherlands

Dates
April 7 - 11, 2014, workshop
April 14 - 18, 2014, hands-on (optional)
April 21 - 25, 2014, wrapping up of workshop and hands on (optional)

Description and aim of the workshop
Metabolomics has become an important tool in life sciences, including studies of plant interaction with its environment and studies on the activity of medicinal plants. The workshop is organized by the Institute of Biology, Leiden University. The workshop is particularly aimed at researchers experienced with the isolation and identification of natural products but do not have experience yet with metabolomics.

Topics

  • Primary and Secondary Metabolism in Plants
  • Analytical Techniques: Chromatography, MS, NMR
  • Basics of Multivariate Data Analysis
  • Applications in Plant Sciences

Costs
    800 Euro for the workshop.
    Including handout, lunches (April 7-11), drinks and one workshop dinner
    (hotel accommodation is not included)

    200 Euro for the hands-on.
    Including supervision and use of the laboratory equipment
    (hotel accommodation is not included)

    25 Euro for the wrapping up.
    Including supervision
    (hotel accommodation is not included)

Maximum number of participants (First come first served)
    For the workshop, April 7-11: 25 participants
    For the hands-on, April 14-18: 10 participants
    For wrapping up, April 21-25: 10 participants

Organized by Young Hae Choi, Jos Frantzen, and Rob Verpoorte. For more information, email j.frantzen@drsupport.nl.

Registration deadline: 31 March 2014

The workshop flyer is available here. For more details, please visit http://www.plantsandmetabolomics.nl/

10 Apr 2014

Mitochondria, Metabolism and Disease
Venue: New York Academy of Sciences, 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich St, 40th Fl., New York City, USA

Organizers: Vamsi K. Mootha, MD (Harvard Medical School), Steven Gross, PhD (Weill Cornell Medical College), Jennifer Henry, PhD (The New York Academy of Sciences)

Speakers: Robert Balaban, PhD (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH), Robert Bao, PhD (Massachusetts General Hospital), Salvatore DiMauro, MD (Columbia University Medical Center), Steven Gross, PhD (Weill Cornell Medical College), Costas A. Lyssiotis, PhD (Weill Cornell Medical College), Vamsi K. Mootha, MD (Harvard Medical School), Jared Rutter, PhD (University of Utah School of Medicine)

Description: Mitochondria are the cell's "power plants" and serve a critical role in global metabolism. Accordingly, dysfunction or damage of mitochondria can greatly perturb metabolism, and underlies a diverse range of human diseases, ranging from neurodegenerative conditions (ALS, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases), epilepsy, psychiatric illness and autism, to atherosclerotic heart disease, stroke, liver disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

For more details, please visit www.nyas.org/MitochondrialDisease 

28-29 Apr 2014

Companion Diagnostics: From Biomarker Identification to Market Entry
Venue: New York Academy of Sciences, 7 World Trade Center, 250 Greenwich St, 40th Fl., New York City, USA

The recent growth in complex biological data has enabled a major paradigm shift in healthcare away from "one-size-fits-all" approaches towards customized, patient-tailored therapies. Biomarker-based companion diagnostics (CDx), designed to identify responsive patient sub-populations or those likely to experience adverse drug effects, lie at the heart of this personalized, precision medicine movement.

This 2-day conference will provide a neutral forum for international scientists and clinicians from academia, industry, and government — as well as healthcare policy makers, regulatory experts, insurance sector representatives, and other stakeholders — to discuss research, financial, and regulatory strategies that will facilitate CDx development and integration into clinical care. Presentations will illustrate successes and failures based on case studies; evaluate emerging applications of technologies such as epigenetics, bioinformatics, and nanotechnology; analyze diverse therapeutic target areas including the pioneering field of cancer along with inflammatory, infectious, cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases; recognize regulatory hurdles; and formulate solutions to better improve public health with CDx and personalized medicine.

For more information, please visit http://www.nyas.org/CDx2014
30 Apr 2014

Analytical Tools for Cutting-edge Metabolomics - a joint meeting of the Analytical Division of the RSC and the international Metabolomics Society
Venue: Chemistry Centre, Burlington House, London, UK (Google Map Location)

Date: 30 April 2014, 09:30-16:45

Analytical chemistry has been one of the driving forces behind the development of metabolomics research over the past decade. The conference will bring together exceptional scientists for a program consisting of plenary and invited talks, posters, as well as an oral session devoted to early career researchers. It will be an excellent opportunity for analytical chemists to learn more about metabolomics and its application, and for metabolomics scientists to improve their knowledge of cutting-edge bioanalytical tools.

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 14 March 2014

 Speaker Information:
Prof. Jeremy Nicholson, Imperial College, London UK - Plenary speaker
Dr Julian Griffin, MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge, UK
Prof. Roy Goodacre, University of Manchester, UK
Prof. Jean-Luc Wolfender, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Dr Steffen Neumann, Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, IPB Halle, Germany
Prof Paul Thomas, Loughborough University
For more details, please visit the event website.
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 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
Researcher Metabolomics and Food Safety Eurofins Analytics France Nantes, France 19-Mar-2014
 30-Apr-2014
 naturejobs.com
Postdoctoral scholar in ‘Genomics and Metabolomics integration' University of California - Davis Davis, CA, United States 19-Mar-2014 15-Apr-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
Director of Computational Biology Dynamic Biomarker Company
24-Feb-2014
FPC Cambridge
PhD in Identifying metabolomic contributions to disease mechanisms in dwarfisms caused by extracellular matrix gene defects University of Manchester Manchester, UK 3-Feb-2014 1-May-2014
 University of Manchester


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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