MetaboNews -- December 2016
MetaboNews Masthead
Published in partnership between
TMIC and the Metabolomics Society
Issue 64 - December 2016

CONTENTS:


Online version of this newsletter:
 http://www.metabonews.ca/Dec2016/MetaboNews_Dec2016.htm
TMIC Services
TMIC Services

Welcome to the sixty-fourth 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 by Konstantinos Kouremenos titled "Microbial Metabolomics", and a metabolomics interview with Caroline H. Johnson of Yale School of Public Health (USA).
This issue of MetaboNews is supported by:

Metanomics Health
    
Chenomx -- Metabolite Discovery & Measurement
Metanomics Health GmbH
Chenomx Inc.

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Metabolomics Society Logo

Metabolomics Society News

CONFERENCE CORNER

13th Annual Conference of the International Metabolomics Society
25th – 29th June, 2017, Brisbane, Australia http://metabolomics2017.org

Scientists from all fields of metabolomics science are invited to attend Metabolomics 2017, the 13th Annual Conference of the international Metabolomics Society, in Brisbane, Australia. Please check the website http://metabolomics2017.org regularly for updates about the conference program, registration, abstract submission details, accommodation, social activities and links to tourist opportunities to make the most of your time ‘down under’.

Support for local and regional conferences or workshops
Metabolomics Society members are reminded that financial and promotional support is available for local conferences and workshops. Details are available at http://metabolomicssociety.org/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 – 2016
The 11th EMN webinar series session was held on Thursday, 17th November 2016. Our expert speaker for this session was Dr. Carl Brunius from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Department of Food Science. His presentation titled “Smarter ways to clean LC-MS data: Use of QCs for between- and within-batch signal correction”, discussed methodologies or approaches that can be used to address measurement errors inherent to alterations in signal intensity, drift in mass accuracy and retention times between samples both within and between batches in untargeted LC-MS metabolomic studies.

All the videos for the EMN webinar series for 2015 and 2016 can be found on the Metabolomics Society website.

Membership News for 2016

Membership renewal for 2017 now available!
Membership of the Society is based on the calendar year and this year’s membership will end December 31st 2016. All current members will need to renew their membership to stay in good standing. You can renew your membership now for 2017 here. Remember to renew early to take advantage of our early bird discounted registration fees. Join now and save some money!

We hope that you have enjoyed being part of and benefitted from the considerable expansion of the Metabolomics Society during the past few years, and will remain a loyal member of our growing community. As the society continues to expand, we expect to be able to offer further membership benefits including discounted member registration at the 13th Annual Metabolomics Society Conference in Brisbane. Student members and Early Career members with over 3 months standing are also able to apply for our Student Prize and Travel Awards.

Member benefits (for all Members)
1. No membership fee increases for 2017.
2. Networking and information exchange with an international membership of professionals devoted to furthering metabolomics related science via conferences and workshops, the Society’s many Interest Groups, and social media including the Society’s Facebook page and Twitter feed.
3. Discounted registration fees for Metabolomics Society conferences.
4. Receive information and electronic notices of metabolomics conferences, workshops and seminars.
5. Posting of job advertisements on the Society's website and via Twitter.
6. Automatic delivery of the joint Metabolomics Society/The Metabolomics Innovation Center (TMIC) MetaboNews newsletter with the latest news from the metabolomics world.
7. Eligibility to nominate individuals for an Honorary Fellowship of the Society* and to vote in Society elections.
8. Eligibility to stand for Office within the Society*.

*Not applicable for Student Members.
TASK GROUPS CORNER

Industry Engagement Task Group
If your company is not currently a Corporate Member of the Metabolomics Society, please encourage your company managers to support the Society through a Corporate Membership. There are multiple benefits to our Corporate Members and the support of important companies helps the Society support the whole metabolomics community. Please consider supporting the Society through a sponsorship for Metabolomics 2017 in Brisbane!


INTERNATIONAL AFFILIATES CORNER
Australian & New Zealand Metabolomics Network (ANZMN)
Visit http://www.anzmn.org
Outcomes from the latest round of Australian Research Council grants were announced recently. Chemistry does not seem to have done that well this year, but metabolism did. Dr. Sidonia Eckle and Dr. Hamish McWilliam, both at the University of Melbourne, received fellowships to look at immune function and bacterial metabolites in pathogen detection. Dr. Paul Evans (UQ) received a grant to look at microbial metabolomics in soils. Metabolism was also featured in a Discovery grant awarded to Professor Andrew Brown and Professor Michael Rogers from the University of New South Wales looking at “Navigating flux control through a branched metabolic pathway.” Another grant also went to Associate Professor Sandie Degnan et al., at the University of Queensland looking at coral reef metabolomics. The biggest grant went to Associate Prof Rob Trengove and team from Murdoch University in Perth who received Au$ 2,168,000.00 for equipment to work on metabolic phenotyping. See https://rms.arc.gov.au/RMS/Report/Download/Report/a3f6be6e-33f7-4fb5-98a6-7526aaa184cf/174 and search for LE170100021 for details. On behalf of the ANZMN, congratulations to all those who were successful and commiserations to those that lost out.

Réseau Français de Métabolomique et Fluxomique (RFMF)
Visit http://www.rfmf.fr/
May 2-5, 2017 / RFMF junior Spring Workshop
This workshop organized by junior section of RFMF will aim at:
-    Supplying an overview of the important challenges in metabolomics
-    Sharing young researcher’s experiences and viewpoints
-    Widen young researchers professional network

During this 3-day workshop, participants will follow lectures provided by experts in the field of:
1)    Analytical methodologies (MS & NMR) applied to metabolomics: principles and innovations
        -    Patrick Giraudeau (CEISAM - University of Nantes - France)
        -    Laurent Debrauwer (MetaboHub - MetaToul-Axiom - INRA Toulouse - France)
2)    Molecular networks and metabolomic database for identification of compounds
        -    David Touboul (ICSN - Gif sur Yvette - France)
        -    Christophe Junot (LEMM - CEA Saclay - France)
3)    Metabolic networks as a tool for biological interpretation
        -    Fabien Jourdan (TOXALIM - INRA Toulouse - France)

This workshop will also include oral presentations made by participants and social activities.

Venue: Port-Royal’s Center, Saint Lambert des Bois (near Paris), France

Expected audience: ≤33 years old, MS and NMR experimenters (e.g., biologists, chemists)

Registration fees: 190€ (Non-permanent) and 290€ (permanent). Fees include accommodations (meals and rooms) but not travel expenses. Registration deadline: March 31, 2017

Language: French

Contact: Guillaume Meiffren (guillaume.meiffren@univ-lyon1.fr)
For further information and registration details, please visit http://www.rfmf.fr/.
 
 Software Spotlight

Metabolomics Spotlight

Microbial Metabolomics

 Feature article contributed by Konstantinos Kouremenos, Metabolomics Australia, Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australia
 
The book ‘Microbial Metabolomics’ (Editors: Dr. David Beale, Land & Water, CSIRO, Australia; Dr. Konstantinos Kouremenos, Metabolomics Australia, Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Prof. Enzo Palombo, Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Swinburne University, Australia) published by Springer brings together contributions from global experts who have helped to facilitate the exciting and rapid advances that are taking place in microbial metabolomics. The main applications of this field are in clinical and veterinary microbiology, but there is a great potential to apply metabolomics to help to better understand complex biological systems that are dominated by multiple-species microbial populations exposed to changing growth and nutritional conditions. In particular, environmental (e.g., water, soil), food (e.g., microbial spoilage, food pathogens), and agricultural and industrial applications are developing areas for microbial metabolomics. As such, the book includes contributions with clinical, environmental, and industrial perspectives.

The book consists of chapters covering:
  1. Introduction to Microbial Metabolomics – A historical brief of microbial metabolomics over the last 14 years, highlighting major breakthroughs and achievements as well as remaining technical challenges in the field.
  2. Microbes, Metabolites and Health – One of the most potent modifiers of gut microbiota structure and function is food. Using dietary fibre as a paradigm, this chapter offers a discussion on how foods can modify key health-related functions through their interaction with the gut microbiota and resultant metabolites that are formed.
  3. Exploring the Bioactive Landscape of the Gut Microbiome to Identify Metabolites Underpinning Human Health – This chapter provides an overview of our current understanding of the gut microbiota and proposes the integration of new culture-independent approaches with improved screening strategies, how metabolomic and genetic approaches offer new opportunities to identify novel bioactives and elucidates the relationship between the gut microbiota associated metabolome and host health.
  4. Using metabolomic approaches to characterize the human pathogen Leishmania in macrophages – A review of our current understanding of Leishmania metabolism and what role ‘-omics’ approaches have played in advancing our understanding. This chapter highlights the role of metabolomic approaches to reveal the mode of action of anti-leishmanial drugs, and to obtain direct insights into the activity of metabolic pathways and the physiological state of Leishmania life cycle stages.
  5. Exometabolomics for linking soil carbon dynamics to microbial communities – The full potential of soil microbial community ‘exometabolomics’ is discussed in this chapter, with emphasis on the integration with other approaches such as metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics.
  6. Community Metabolomics in Environmental Microbiology – This chapter reviews the use of microbial metabolomics in human and animal health and medical research, and its potential to improve diagnostic capabilities and provide greater insights into the pathogenesis of disease.
  7. The rise of multi-omic approaches and its application to environmental and engineered systems – In this chapter, the progress of multi-omics in recent years is discussed and case studies are presented in multiple fields such as health, the environment, industrial biotechnology, and biofuel studies, among others.
  8. Metabolomics: applications to food safety and quality research – The capability of metabolomics in the study of different areas of food safety and quality is provided. Moreover, we obtain an insight on how metabolomics approaches can help to determine microbiological and chemical hazards present in different food products.
  9. Microbial metabolomics in biomass waste management – This chapter reviews the application of microbial metabolomics to increase the efficiency of biomass degradation. It describes recent advances and future aspects of microbial metabolite profiling and metabolic engineering processes to optimise the production of various compounds of medicinal and industrial interest.
  10. Soil Metabolomics and Agriculture – The final chapter discusses metabolomics analyses of agricultural systems, with a focus on microbes, and how the techniques are helping to transform the way we understand soil and the effects of our use of this resource.

Web link to book: http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319463247



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 Caroline H. Johnson.
Caroline H. Johnson

 Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Yale School of Public Health, USA
Caroline Johnson
Biography

Caroline H. Johnson, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Yale School of Public Health. She graduated from Imperial College London in 2009 with a PhD in Analytical Chemistry. Since then she has held postdoctoral and staff appointments at the National Cancer Institute and The Scripps Research Institute.

Dr. Johnson's research uses mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to understand the role of metabolites in human health. Her primary research interest is to investigate the relationship between genetic and environmental influences (diet, microbiome) in colon cancer. She is also examining human exposure to chemicals in artificial turf, and chemical exposure during pregnancy.


Metabolomics Interview (MN, MetaboNews; CJ, Caroline Johnson)

 MN: How did you get involved in metabolomics?

CJ: In 2009, I joined the Laboratory of Dr. Frank Gonzalez at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, as a postdoctoral fellow. While there I combined the analytical chemistry skills I learned during my PhD with molecular biology techniques, to understand genetic and environmental determinants of cancer. My initial project was to examine the biological effect of vitamin E supplementation and I was amazed to observe four new urinary metabolites of vitamin E. Given that these supplements had been on the market for decades, this opened my eyes to the power of metabolomics for finding novel information about well-studied xenobiotics and possibly diseases. In these early stages of my postdoctoral career, I used metabolomics in many exposure and cancer-related projects, but I became increasingly aware of the challenges involved in metabolite identification. So, I began working in Dr. Gary Siuzdak’s laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute to work towards improving metabolite identification and expediting the metabolomics workflow via the XCMS Online (https://xcmsonline.scripps.edu) and METLIN (https://metlin.scripps.edu) platforms.

MN: What are some of the most exciting aspects of your work in metabolomics?
Influence of microbial metabolites in colon cancer
 CJ: My lab at Yale School of Public Health is particularly interested in examining the influence of microbial metabolites in colon cancer (http://medicine.yale.edu/lab/cjohnson/). Colon cancer is propagated by a series of genetic mutations, but the environmental diversity in the colon influence carcinogenesis and therapeutic response, therefore making it a fascinating disease to study. One of the most exciting discoveries I made revealed a symbiosis between host cancers and bacterial biofilms (large aggregates of bacteria that anchor into colonic mucosa). Using four different types of metabolomic platforms (untargeted, targeted, imaging and untargeted stable isotope analysis), pathway analysis and orthogonal biological analysis, I showed that metabolites produced by the cancer cells were used by bacteria to build biofilms. These biofilms induced a procarcinogenic state in the host tissues evidenced by increased proliferation and inflammation. Thus causing a vicious cycle of cancer and biofilm growth. Interestingly these biofilms predominantly occurred in right-sided colon cancers (proximal to hepatic flexure), which is an area of the colon known to have poorer clinical outcomes for the patient [1]. Building on this work, we are now examining the influence of microbial metabolism in left and right-sided colon cancer pathogenicity.

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

 CJ: At Yale School of Public Health, we are working towards integrating metabolomics with exposure biology, risk assessment and environmental epidemiology, to ultimately study the exposome. This is a particularly exciting area where metabolomics plays a major role to not only identify exposures but determine their biological impact [2].

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

CJ: In the U.S, metabolomics research is very strong. Our national funding body, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), developed the Metabolomics Common Fund Program back in 2012. This program has enabled new metabolomic researchers the ability to enter this field via pilot grants and training workshops, which is a valuable resource. Thus, metabolomics is becoming commonplace in both academia and industry.

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

 CJ: My research has focused on technological innovation to strengthen the XCMS Online and METLIN platforms, which are used by thousands; this includes autonomous metabolomics, data streaming, and multi-omic integration [3-6]. More recently, I have been developing methods for the integration of metabolomics in exposomics, with a current focus on metabolite bio-activity.

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

CJ: One of the major strengths of metabolomics is often looked upon as one of its greatest challenges, and that is inter-individual variation. Since metabolomics is one of the only technologies that can provide information on metabolites produced internally or derived from external influences, it can help us to understand why some diseases or exposures manifest differently between individuals, and also why therapeutics do not have the same response in all [7].

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

CJ: Metabolomics has overcome some of the major barriers that were holding back the field for quite some time, such as metabolite identification. However, the promise of finding a clinical disease biomarker is still looking very distant, and replication between labs has not been possible in most cases. This could be improved through increased funding so researchers have the means to obtain additional sample cohorts. Also, better data-sharing practices would help.
 
MN: What improvements, technological or otherwise, need to take place for metabolomics to really take off? 

CJ: One area which has been overlooked is teaching. Most universities do not have a metabolomics component in the syllabus and even basic concepts of metabolomics are often overlooked. The metabolomics field needs more trained individuals in this area to enable its progression. At the moment, it is only taught in a few dedicated courses and workshops; if we can introduce metabolomics early in a researcher’s academic career to the extent that genomics is currently taught, it will spark greater interest and understanding, and I think we will make greater strides in the future.

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

CJ: Outside of the NIH many foundation grants are excited about the potential of metabolomics to uncover new directions for their research, particularly when integrated with other -omic technologies. As metabolomics has evolved over the past decade or so, its promise has been shown and funding bodies are gaining more confidence in supporting metabolomic projects. 


MN: What role can metabolomics standards play?

CJ: For sure they are important, particularly if they could be used by journals as checkpoints before manuscript submission.

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

CJ: My hope is that researchers in the field will be more committed to sharing their data on repositories such as MetaboLights or XCMS Online. Mining these sorts of datasets are invaluable for comparing results of similar studies, or determining the specificity of one’s metabolite/biomarker to a disease.


References
  1. Johnson CH, Dejea CM, Edler D, Hoang LT, Santidrian AF, Felding BH, et al. Metabolism links bacterial biofilms and colon carcinogenesis. Cell Metab. 2015 Jun 2;21(6):891-7. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2015.04.011. Epub 2015 May 7. [PMID: 25959674]
  2. Johnson CH, Ivanisevic J, Siuzdak G. Metabolomics: beyond biomarkers and towards mechanisms. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2016 Jul;17(7):451-9. doi: 10.1038/nrm.2016.25. Epub 2016 Mar 16. [PMID: 26979502]
  3. Benton HP, Ivanisevic J, Mahieu NG, Kurczy ME, Johnson CH, Franco L, et al. Autonomous metabolomics for rapid metabolite identification in global profiling. Anal Chem. 2015 Jan 20;87(2):884-91. doi: 10.1021/ac5025649. Epub 2014 Dec 26. [PMID: 25496351]
  4. Johnson CH, Ivanisevic J, Benton HP, Siuzdak G. Bioinformatics: the next frontier of metabolomics. Anal Chem. 2015 Jan 6;87(1):147-56. doi: 10.1021/ac5040693. Epub 2014 Nov 20. [PMID: 25389922]
  5. Rinehart D, Johnson CH, Nguyen T, Ivanisevic J, Benton HP, Lloyd J, et al. Metabolomic data streaming for biology-dependent data acquisition. Nat Biotechnol. 2014 Jun;32(6):524-7. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2927. [PMID: 24911492]
  6. Zhu ZJ, Schultz AW, Wang J, Johnson CH, Yannone SM, Patti GJ, et al. Liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry characterization of metabolites guided by the METLIN database. Nat Protoc. 2013 Mar;8(3):451-60. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2013.004. Epub 2013 Feb 7. [PMID: 23391889]
  7. Johnson CH, Spilker ME, Goetz L, Peterson SN, Siuzdak G. Metabolite and Microbiome Interplay in Cancer Immunotherapy. Cancer Res. 2016 Nov 1;76(21):6146-6152. Epub 2016 Oct 11. [PMID: 27729325]
  
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

Recently published papers in metabolomics:

MetaboNews

MetaboNews
30 Nov 2016
Renowned Scientist Joins Nutrition Research Institute

Susan Sumner, PhD joins the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) on December 1, 2016, as a Professor of Nutrition. Dr. Sumner is working to make personalized medicine a reality through metabolomics. Metabolomics involves measuring thousands of metabolites in cells, tissues, and biological fluids. This approach can provide a more comprehensive view of an individuals’ metabolism than the limited measurements (such as glucose and cholesterol) that doctors employ today. Using metabolomics, Dr. Sumner assesses differences in the metabolic profile of individuals that correlate with states of wellness or disease. She is also conducting laboratory studies to identify responses to treatment in areas such as obesity, drug-induced liver injury, infectious disease, and reproductive and developmental biology.

For the past 12 years, Dr. Sumner has worked at the Research Triangle Institute as a Senior Scientist, and the PI/director of the NIH Common Fund Eastern Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Resource Core (ERCMRC). Her research involves projects designed to identify biomarkers for the early detection of disease, to monitor disease progression or therapeutic intervention, and to gain insights into mechanisms of response. Dr. Sumner has also served as the PI of a National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant that used metabolomics to reveal noninvasive markers of drug-induced liver injury. She has lead research efforts using metabolomics to reveal mechanistic insights related to the impact of environmental exposure in utero or early in life on reproductive and developmental outcomes. She also serves as a PI for NIEH-funded basic research that involves estimating human health risks from exposure to nanoparticles.

“My expertise in using metabolomics in studies of obesity, diet, smoking, cancer, diabetes, cognitive development, liver disease, maternal and child health, and the environmental influence of disease complements the nutrigenomics research at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute,” said Dr. Sumner. “Metabolomics provides a means to determine the link between genes and nutrition requirements, and to understand how nutrition impacts gene function. In addition to contributing metabolomics expertise to NRI projects, my team will expanded studies in the areas of human variation in metabolism, maternal and child health, diabetes, and kidney disease.”

Director Steven H. Zeisel, MD, PhD said, “The UNC NRI is leading the way at the frontiers of nutrition research, developing the science behind personalized nutrition. Dr. Sumner brings to us the ability to see what is happening in our bodies by broadly measuring the results of all of metabolism. Combined with our ability to study genes, we now have powerful new ways to see what we could not see before regarding nutrition and health.”

With Dr. Sumner’s arrival in Kannapolis, the NRI will be home to the Eastern Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Research Core. This is one of six centers in the United States that work together to establish national standards for metabolomics, to provide training, and to increase national metabolomic capacity in clinical and translational research.

Source: https://transforming-science.com/renowned-scientist-joins-nri/
18 Nov 2016
Announcing the Launch of EmTraG

 The European Metabolomics Training Coordination Group (EmTraG) was formed in 2016 by scientists with a passion for training in metabolomics. It was created to address the considerable need to harmonise the rapidly expanding portfolio of metabolomics training courses in Europe. EmTraG’s mission is to harmonise metabolomics training across Europe in order to improve its scientific coverage, geographical reach, quality and impact, thereby empowering the next generation of analytical, computational and applied metabolomics scientists. EmTraG will seek close harmonisation with ELIXIR (and the ELIXIR Training Platform) at a European level and the Metabolomics Society at an international level. We intend that www.EmTraG.eu will serve as the principal European web portal for training associated with metabolomics science. EmTraG was launched on 21-22 July 2016 at a workshop at the University of Birmingham, UK, with 17 attendees from 5 countries. The workshop was funded by ELIXIR-UK.

EmTraG Press Release [PDF]

Source: http://www.emtrag.eu/
15 Nov 2016
Metabolomic Technologies' Lu Deng Receives Canada's National Award for Commercialization

Mitacs & National Research Council-IRAP Award for Commercialization: Lu Deng, a postdoctoral fellow who studied at the University of Alberta’s Department of Computing Science and Biological Sciences. During her Mitacs Elevate fellowship with Edmonton-based Metabolomic Technologies Inc. (MTI), Lu developed a low-cost urine test, PolypDx, to effectively screen for polyps, the precursor to colon cancer.

Her work, which successfully transferred the test from expensive, highly specialized equipment to a mass-spectrometer — the technology commonly used in medical laboratories across North America — directly contributed to the successful launch of the product in the U.S. in May of this year. Lu accepted a full-time senior scientist position at MTI after completing her Mitacs fellowship.

Watch the video acceptance speech.

Source: Mitacs News Release
Metabolomics Events

Metabolomics Events
8-10 Dec 2016


4th ICAN Conference Series on Precision Medicine in Cardiometabolic Diseases and Nutrition-Related Diseases
Venue: Saint James Albany Hotel, Paris France

On behalf of the steering committee, the Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition (ICAN) is delighted to invite you to the fourth ICAN Conference Series on Precision Medicine in Cardiometabolic and Nutrition-related Diseases, which will take place in Paris, France, from December 8-10, 2016.

The ICAN Conference Series is an educational instrument directed and managed by ICAN and the scientific community. Since its inception in 2012, ICAN has organized three annual ICAN conferences, both of which were a fabulous success!

The ICAN conference Series aims to convene a dynamic, open, peer-reviewed symposium dedicated to exciting new frontiers in life science. Whether you are a geneticist, an immunologist, or virtually any other type of life science investigator, from academia, industry, or the government/non-profit sector, we are sure that you will find the ICAN Conference Series to be a valuable and memorable experience.

As for previous editions, we have coordinated a high-quality scientific program, with the unique opportunity of facilitating interactions between speakers and young investigators and researchers. Therefore the ICAN Conference Series Scientific Board will preferentially select junior researcher abstracts eligible for the reduced registration rate, and limit the total number of participants. Moreover, this year, certain young researchers will have the rare opportunity to co-chair each session.

We look forward to seeing you again this year!

Prof. Karine Clément
Director of ICAN

Program: http://www.ican-series.com/program
Registration & Rates: http://www.ican-series.com/registration

For further details, visit http://www.ican-series.com/.
12-13 Dec 2016
Quality Assurance and Quality Control in Metabolic Phenotyping
Venue: Birmingham Metabolomics Training Centre, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

This 2-day course will provide a comprehensive overview of the application of quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) in metabolic phenotyping. The course is aimed at students and researchers who are actively working in the field. Experts who have developed the application of QA and QC procedures within the field will lead the course. It will include both theoretical and practical components to
  • Introduce QA and QC in metabolic phenotyping
  • The application of QA and QC in untargeted and targeted studies
  • Preparation of QCs and data acquisition
  • Data processing and reporting standards
The course will finish with a question and answer session with a panel of experts.

For further information and registration details, please visit http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/metabolomics-training-centre/courses/quality-phenotyping.aspx or contact bmtc@contacts.bham.ac.uk.
23-27 Jan 2017
Hands-on NMR for Metabolic Phenotyping
Venue: Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, UK

This week long course aims to cover how to perform a metabolic profiling experiment, from start to finish. It will cover study design, sample preparation, NMR spectrometer set up for global profiling, 2-dimensional NMR experiments and spectral data analysis.

It combines lectures and tutorial sessions to ensure a thorough understanding of the theory and practical applications. Topics covered include:
  • NMR-based metabonomics and NMR theory
  • Experimental design, Topspin software and plotting, and pulse sequences
  • Statistics and data pre-processing
  • Metabolite ID and 2D NMR
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/imperial-international-phenome-training-centre/courses/hands-on-nmr-spectroscopy-for-metabolic-profiling

or contact Rebecca Smith (rebecca.smith2@imperial.ac.uk) for further information.
10-14 Feb 2017
Phenome 2017
Venue: Hilton El Conquistador Resort, Tucson, Arizona, USA

The Phenome 2017 conference is an important step in the development of a path toward training and collaboration among disciplines that are poised to address critical social issues and to generate greater understanding about plants and climate change. This first conference will bring together a multidisciplinary community comprising plant biologists, ecologists, engineers, agronomists, and computer scientists.

Please share this flyer with your members of your department and encourage your students to register to attend the meeting. Highly relevant abstracts submitted by November 1 may be considered to give a talk during one of the sessions.

Please visit www.phenome2017.org to register and learn more about the meeting.
13-17 Feb 2017
EMBO Practical Course on Metabolomics Bioinformatics for Life Scientists
Venue: European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) - Training Room 2 - Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge,  CB10 1SD, United Kingdom

Application opens: Monday August 08 2016
Application deadline: Friday November 11 2016
Participation: Open application with selection
Contact: Maria Bacadare Goitia
Registration fee: £350

Overview
This course will provide an overview of key issues that affect metabolomics studies, handling datasets and procedures for the analysis of metabolomics data using bioinformatics tools. It will be delivered using a mixture of lectures, computer-based practical sessions and interactive discussions. The course will provide a platform for discussion of the key questions and challenges in the field of metabolomics, from study design to metabolite identification.

Audience
This course is aimed at PhD students, post-docs and researchers with at least one year’s experience in the field of metabolomics who are seeking to improve their skills in metabolomics data analysis. Participants ideally must have working experience using R (including a basic understanding of the syntax and ability to manipulate objects).

For more information, please visit https://www.ebi.ac.uk/training/events/2017/embo-practical-course-metabolomics-bioinformatics-life-scientists-3.

11-13 May 2017
Metabolism in Time and Space: Emerging Links to Cellular and Developmental Programs
Venue: EMBL Heidelberg, Germany

T. Alexandrov, A. Aulehla, P. Dorrestein, O. Leyser, S. McKnight, N. Perrimon

Deadlines
  • Registration - 30 Mar 2017
  • Abstract - 16 Feb 2017

Download Poster

Topics

  • Metabolism in time and space
  • Mechanistic insights - crosstalk metabolism/cellular functions
  • Metabolic control of development
  • Metabolism in growth control
  • Beyond the canonical roles of metabolism

Latest News

  • Registration is now open. Please visit the registration page for more information.
  • Got something to tweet? Say it #EESMetabolism

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Why attend?
This symposium focuses on the role of metabolism in controlling cellular and developmental programs in its spatial and temporal complexity. There is a fundamental interest in deciphering the intricate link between metabolism and regulatory cellular programs during cell differentiation and the development of multicellular organisms. Recent technological progress has enabled us to analyse metabolism and metabolic activities with spatio-temporal resolution. This creates unprecedented potential to address how metabolic state impacts on cellular and developmental programs.

Aims
It is the overarching goal of this meeting to enable interdisciplinary discussion on the role of metabolism in controlling cellular and developmental programs in its spatial and temporal complexity. Special focus will be given to discuss emerging imaging or biosensor technologies and bioinformatics and how they can enable addressing fundamental biological questions.

For more information, visit http://www.embo-embl-symposia.org/symposia/2017/EES17-01/index.html

17-18 May 2017
Conference on Food and Nutritional Metabolomics for Health
Venue: The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

The purpose of this two-day event is to disseminate state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of food and nutritional metabolomics and foster networking and collaboration among colleagues and industry partners.

For more information please visit: https://discovery.osu.edu/focus-areas/foods-for-health/events/conference-2017.html.
29 May to 2 June 2017
Workflow4Experimenters International Course (W4E2017)
Venue: Paris, France

Save the date! Analyze your data with Galaxy and the Workflow4metabolomics e-infrastructure! The next Workflow4Experimenters international course (W4E2017) will take place in Paris (May 29 to June 2, 2017). During this one-week course (entirely in English), you will learn how to use the W4M infrastructure and analyze your own LC-MS, GC-MS, or NMR data. Morning sessions will be dedicated to methodology and tools. Afternoon sessions will be devoted to tutoring.

Invited speakers: Tim Ebbels (Imperial College), Steffen Neumann (IPB Halle), and Ralf Weber (Birmingham University).

Registrations will open on January 3, 2017 (http://workflow4metabolomics.org).
Contact: contact@workflow4metabolomics.org
26-29 June 2017
Metabolomics 2017
Venue: Brisbane, Australia
The 13th Annual International Conference of the Metabolomics Society will be held in Brisbane from June 26-29, 2017. Check back for updates in the coming months at http://metabolomics2017.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 four issues (eight weeks) unless the position is filled prior to that date.

Jobs Offered

Job Title Employer Location Posted Closes Source
PhD Chemometric Modelling of Sensory Evaluations (CHEMOSENSE)
 Wageningen University & Research Wageningen, Netherlands 6-Dec-2016 2-Jan-2017
 Wageningen University & Research
(click to apply)
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (Bioinformatician/Biostatistician)
 Edith Cowan University Perth, Australia 3-Dec-2016 22-Jan-2017 Edith Cowan University
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (Biochemist/Analytical Chemist)
 Edith Cowan University Perth, Australia 3-Dec-2016 22-Jan-2017 Edith Cowan University
Chemist IV
 University of Florida Gainesville, FL, USA 2-Dec-2016 9-Dec-2016 University of Florida
Bioinformatics/Biostatistics Research Fellow (in Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics)
 University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK
 1-Dec-2016 4-Jan-2017 University of Birmingham
Bioinformatics/Biostatistics Research Fellow (in NMR Metabolomics)
 University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK 1-Dec-2016 3-Jan-2017 University of Birmingham
Doctoral researcher (f/m) in the field of bioinformatics of plant communities and Eco-Metabolomics
 German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry Halle, Germany 1-Dec-2016 1-Jan-2017 German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)
Field Application Specialist Metabolomics-Mass Spectrometry BIOCRATES Life Sciences AG East Coast, USA 25-Nov-2016
BIOCRATES Life Sciences AG
Postdoctoral Researcher in the functional metabolomics of immuno-metabolism
 Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden
 24-Nov-2016 31-Jan-2017 Karolinska Institutet
Postdoctoral Researcher in the functional metabolomics of lipid mediators in chronic respiratory disease
 Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden 14-Nov-2016 2-Jan-2017 Nature Jobs
PhD Project "Minimal invasive biomarkers for the personalized treatment of neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)"
 Health Research Institute of Hospital La Fe Valencia, Spain
 10-Nov-2016
La Caixa and the European Union; search for "Minimal invasive biomarkers for the personalized treatment of neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE)"
Post-doctoral Fellow/Staff Scientist [Musculoskeletal Metabolomics]
 Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA 7-Nov-2016 Until filled Metabolomics Society
Senior Associate Researcher
 Mount Sinai Health System New York City, New York, USA 4-Nov-2016 Until filled Metabolomics Society
Analytical Chemist, Research Fellow
 Biological Research Centre Szeged, Hungary 4-Nov-2016 16-Dec-2016 Metabolomics Society
Research Assistant
 Centro Cardiologico Monzino Milan, Italy 26-Oct-2016 Until filled Metabolomics Society
Postdoctoral Research Associate Position Available, NMR-Based Metabolomics Core Laboratory
 Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
 18-Oct-2016
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Postdoctoral Fellowship
 Philip Morris International (PMI) Neuchatel, Switzerland 14-Oct-2016 1-Jan-2017
 Metabolomics Society


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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