MetaboNews Masthead

MetaboNews
Issue 8 - March 2012

CONTENTS:


Online version of this newsletter:
http://www.metabonews.ca/Mar2012/MetaboNews_Mar2012.htm

Welcome to the eighth issue of MetaboNews, a monthly newsletter for the worldwide metabolomics community. In this month's issue, we feature a Database Spotlight article on MeRy-B, a plant metabolomics database and knowledgebase. This newsletter is being produced by The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC, http://www.metabolomicscentre.ca/), and is intended 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. We hope to provide enough useful content to keep you interested and informed and appreciate your feedback on how we can make this newsletter better (metabolomics.innovation@gmail.com).

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Current and back issues of this newsletter can be viewed from the newsletter archive (http://www.metabonews.ca/archive.html).

Software/Stat Spotlight

1) Database Spotlight

 MeRy-B Logo
MeRy-B: a plant metabolomics database and knowledgebase

Feature article contributed by Daniel Jacob, Bioinformatician, and Catherine Deborde, Chemist, Metabolome Facility of Bordeaux and INRA, UMR1332 Fruit Biology and Pathology, University of Bordeaux, Villenave d'Ornon, France

MeRy-B stands for Metabolomic Repository of Bordeaux and is available from http://bit.ly/meryb. It is the first platform for plant 1H-NMR metabolomic profile management and metabolite identification for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments [Ferry et al. 2011]. MeRy-B manages all the data generated by NMR-based plant metabolomics experiments, from description of the biological source to identification of the metabolites and determination of their concentrations. It is the first database allowing the display and overlay of NMR metabolomic profiles selected through queries on data or metadata.

MeRy-B takes into account the recommendations of Metabolomics Standard Initiative and used controlled vocabularies and ontologies, such as NCBI Taxonomy, Plant Ontology Consortium, and Environment Ontology. This renders the platform more coherent and makes it easier to query data for the scientific community. Moreover, MeRy-B is working to support the ISA-Tab format, in order to supply data in the growing ecosystem of resources, and thus, to support the effort towards data sharing and integration (www.isacommons.org).

MeRy-B fulfills two needs. First, each registered user, as project owner, creates projects and deposits his or her own data and associated metadata into the application for storage, consultation, visualization, and analysis. Detailed explanations about "How to upload and consult a metabolomics project on MeRy-B as project owner" are beyond this brief introduction (see the publication [Ferry et al. 2011]). Second, all users are allowed to search the MeRy-B knowledgebase constructed from the information provided by all previous project owners (public data), for the re-analysis and comparison of data sets and to facilitate compound identification.

The experimental data and related metadata can be consulted through the Data consultation module and its various interfaces, providing either a global view or a detailed view. The complete experimental design, by project, is available through the Project Details function, which provides an overview on a single web page (Figure 1a). From this web page, a global view of each experiment of the project, from which all related information, such as experimental protocols or spectral data, is accessible (Figure 1b).

Overview of a project

Figure 1a. Overview of a project. The aim of this project on tomato was to characterize differences between the metabolic profiles of two interdependent tissues, seeds (experiment 1) and flesh (experiment 2), from the same fruits, during fruit development, by means of a metabolomics approach. The genotype (GT) chosen (Ailsa Craig) and the five Developmental (Dev.) stages, from FF.01 fruit size 30% (8 days post anthesis or DPA) to FR.04 fruit ripening complete (45 DPA), are reported in the fifth and seventh columns of the table, respectively.


Overview of an experiment on seed

Figure 1b. This screen shot illustrates the overview of an experiment on seed with the three protocols describing Growth, Harvest, and Storage as PDF files: PG-Tomato-Metabolomics-2006, PH-Tomato-Metabolomics-2006, and PS-Tomato-UMR619-1, and the description of the 'Environmental Condition', 'Study Type', and 'Tissue/Organ': Normal, Growth chamber study, and Seed, respectively.


With the Spectra overlay module (Figure 2), spectra are displayed in color according to the criteria chosen by the user, facilitating the visual inspection and identification of spectral regions varying as a function of the level of a given factor.

Overlay of a portion of the NMR spectra colored according to the developmental stage

Figure 2. Overlay of a portion of the NMR spectra colored according to the developmental stage.


All analytical protocols and detailed information related to the spectral data can be accessed through the Spectral data Interface (Figure 3a, 3b, and 3c) for each sample.


All analytical protocols relating to the spectral data can be accessed

Figure 3a. All analytical protocols relating to the spectral data can be accessed. In the above figure, details for sample S8.1.1 of the Seed experiment are shown.


An interactive graphical tool can be used to view either the entire spectrum or to zoom in and focus on one part of the spectrum

Figure 3b. An interactive graphical tool can be used to view either the entire spectrum or to zoom in and focus on one part of the spectrum.


All identified and possibly quantified compounds are also available for each sample

Figure 3c. All identified and possibly quantified compounds are also available for each sample.


MeRy-B A knowledgebase for plant metabolites
All the data and metadata deposited in projects (when declared public) are shared with the metabolomics community. Thus, MeRy-B can be used as a knowledgebase. For each metabolite in the MeRy-B Database, there is one MeRy-B Card (Figure 4). The concept of the MeRy-B Card is analogous to the MetaboCard in the HMDB. Each MeRy-B Card contains several sections, depending on whether information is available or not, mainly subdivided into two kinds: chemical and experimental. The chemical information sections are laid out as follows: i) KEGG Compound, ii) Other Links, iii) Pathways & Reactome, iv) HMDB NMR Peak List (with compound chemical shifts when available), and v) NMR Spectrum. The "Other Links" section brings together useful hyperlinks to references and other public databases including the ChEBI database, the KNApSAck database, the Golm Metabolome Database, and the HMDB. The "Pathways & Reactome" section provides the set of biological pathways retrieved from the PlantCyc database.

The MeRy-B Card

Figure 4. The MeRy-B Card. The MeRy-B Card displays all public data stored in the MeRy-B knowledgebase for a given compound.


MeRy-B contains lists of plant metabolites and unknown compounds detected by 1H-NMR, with detailed information about experimental conditions, the factors studied and metabolite concentrations for 16 different plant species (Arabidopsis, Barrel Clover, Broccoli, Daphne, Grape, Maize, Melon, Ostreococcus tauri, Palm date, Palm tree, Peach, Rice, Strawberry, Sugar beet, Tomato, Vanilla) compiled from more than two thousand annotated NMR profiles for various organs (e.g., fruit, seed, embryo, leaf, root) or tissues (e.g., mesocarp, epicarp, endosperm) deposited by 26 different private or public contributors on March 2012. Currently about half of the data deposited in MeRy-B is publicly available.

MeRy-B also contains a collection of experimental metabolite concentration data for more than 40 metabolites coming from 18 public projects (44 experiments and 1,083 NMR spectra). The metabolites are mainly primary metabolites due to the choice of extraction processes and NMR methods used. In Figure 5, a simplified map of plant metabolism (mainly primary) is shown with all the metabolites identified and/or quantified coming from the projects deposited in the MeRy-B database.

A simplified map of plant metabolism (mainly primary)

Figure 5. A simplified map of plant metabolism (mainly primary). Some metabolite names are highlighted with colored circles, indicating metabolites identified or quantified in projects deposited in MeRy-B.
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.

Biomarker Beacon

2) Biomarker Beacon

Feature article contributed by Ian Forsythe, Editor, MetaboNews, Dept 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. More than 95% of today's 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 metabolomics 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, metabolomics approaches were used to develop biomarker tools for the identification of biomarkers associated with schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, respectively.

1. Xuan J, Pan G, Qiu Y, Yang L, Su M, Liu Y, Chen J, Feng G, Fang Y, Jia W, Xing Q, He L. Metabolomic profiling to identify potential serum biomarkers for schizophrenia and risperidone action. J Proteome Res. 2011 Dec 2;10(12):5433-43. Epub 2011 Nov 8. [PMID: 22007635]

In this paper, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomic profiling was used to identify serum biomarkers for schizophrenia and determine the effect of treatment with risperidone, an antipsychotic drug. Metabolomic profiling was performed using serum from unmedicated schizophrenic patients before and after eight week risperidone monotherapy. Complete separation of schizophrenic patients from matched healthy controls was achieved using a set of twenty-two marker metabolites. Of these twenty-two metabolites, four in particular, citrate, palmitic acid, myo-inositol, and allantoin were the largest contributors to classification performance. For complete separation between pretreatment and posttreatment patients, a set of twenty marker metabolites were identified. The largest contributors in this second set were myo-inositol, uric acid, and tryptophan. Several metabolic pathways were perturbed in the schizophrenic patients including phospholipid metabolism, neurotransmitter metabolism, antioxidant defense systems, energy metabolism, and fatty acid biosynthesis. These identified metabolites may prove to be useful in the development of a non-invasive diagnostic for patients with schizophrenia.

2. Sato Y, Suzuki I, Nakamura T, Bernier F, Aoshima K, Oda Y. Identification of a new plasma biomarker of Alzheimer's disease using metabolomics technology. J Lipid Res. 2012 Mar;53(3):567-76. Epub 2011 Dec 27. [PMID: 22203775]

This study identified a new plasma biomarker of Alzheimer's disease (AD) using a metabolomics-based approach. The research team used liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry to perform an unbiased survey of steroid-related compounds. Desmosterol was found at lower quantities in AD plasma compared to control plasma. The ratio of desmosterol/cholesterol was also lower in AD patients. The lower level of desmosterol and the decrease in the desmosterol/cholesterol ratio was validated using 109 clinical samples. Further studies using a larger patient population will be required to confirm these results. These initial findings could aid in the development of an early-stage diagnostic for Alzheimer's disease.


Metabolomics Current Contents

3) Metabolomics Current Contents


Recently published papers in metabolomics:



MetaboNews

4) MetaboNews
30 Mar 2012
Beating breast cancer recurrence - There are about 2.5 million women in the United States alone who are breast cancer survivors and they face a one in five chance that the cancer will return within ten years of treatment. Research has shown that early detection of recurrences and appropriate treatment can save their lives. Now, a new blood test can detect breast cancer recurrence a full year earlier and is twice as sensitive as current blood tests.

The new blood tests are bringing hope to breast cancer patients because the currently available tests are not very sensitive. The best test for a biological "marker" protein, called CA 27.29, misses many recurrences and when it does catch it it's usually almost too late, often after the patient is experiencing symptoms like bone pain or difficulty breathing.

"We have identified a group of nine biomarkers that signal recurrence of breast cancer. Our markers detect twice as many recurrences as the CA marker does at the same specificity. They also detect cancer recurrence earlier, about 11-12 months sooner than existing tests. They accomplish this with blood samples, rather than biopsies, with less discomfort to patients," Daniel Raftery, Ph.D., lead reporter with Purdue University and Matrix-Bio, Inc, was quoted as saying.

Dr. Raftery and his colleagues analyzed hundreds of "metabolites" in breast cancer survivor's blood to find the markers. Metabolites, small molecules, are biological byproducts formed by the body's cells and are released into the urine or the bloodstream.

"Metabolite Profiling" is a rapidly emerging field in science. It seeks to understand how metabolites relate to health and disease. In fact, groups of metabolites have already been linked to numerous diseases. Dr. Raftery's biomarkers were known to be linked to cancer, but no one knew that his group of metabolites could serve as biomarkers for breast cancer recurrence. The markers are detected with a mass spectrometer and, according to Dr. Raftery, the markers can be used in combination with results from CA 27.29 blood tests.

Dr. Raftery hopes that the new test will become available later this year. "We take both of those results together and roll them into the profile so that the score we generate is a combination of the CA value and our nine metabolites," he said. "If the score indicates that the cancer probably has returned, the patient would then likely undergo imaging tests to locate the tumor," Dr. Raftery was quoted as saying.


Source: cbs42.com
 
27 Mar 2012
AB SCIEX Announces Academic Partnership Program to Support Biological Research - AB SCIEX, a global leader in life science analytical technologies, today announced the AB SCIEX Academic Partnership Program to increase the number of scientists who benefit from the company’s assistance and resources for advancing research in proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics. The new wave of biological studies known as “network biology” and the -omics fields require advanced scientific techniques and powerful technologies, which can be difficult to obtain. AB SCIEX is partnering with academic researchers, including up-and-coming scientists, to lower these barriers for pursuing advancements and breakthroughs in medicine and the advanced study of biology.

The new program formalizes and expands the company’s proven approach to partnering with academia, building on two decades of AB SCIEX’s success closely collaborating with academic researchers who have achieved major breakthroughs, such as the MRMAtlas, ICAT® Reagents and MS/MSALL with SWATH™ Acquisition with Ruedi Aebersold; targeted peptide quantitation with Leigh Anderson; and fundamental ion-ion chemistry research with Scott McLuckey that may lead to future groundbreaking products.

Among the hundreds of researchers around the world who have benefitted from a collaborative relationship with AB SCIEX is Anne-Claude Gingras at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. She has worked with AB SCIEX for several years on advancing proteomics research, receiving support from AB SCIEX scientists to resolve issues and share useful information that has resulted in millions of dollars in funding from research grants amid rising competition.

“I think that partnering with an industry leader such as AB SCIEX is invaluable for an academic researcher,” said Gingras. “Cooperation between academia and industry has been important in significant scientific advancements, and AB SCIEX has quite a bit of credibility from being part of some major breakthroughs. There’s no question that researchers, especially young investigators, can benefit from the commitment to academic research that AB SCIEX has made.”

The Academic Partnership Program is designed to simplify the grant-writing process for researchers and provide access to technical expertise and support in mass spectrometry and chromatography, which are both needed for network biology. Through this program AB SCIEX will also provide sponsorships for promising research that illustrates exemplary use of LC/MS/MS.

The role of academic researchers in pushing the limits of biomedical research is critical for continued advancement toward the promise of personalized medicine in a post-genome era. The work required can be daunting without the support of industry, and AB SCIEX is now making such support more available in a program open to universities and non-profit research institutes with ties to academia.

“We believe that the next great breakthroughs in biomedical research will come from network biology, so we are partnering with academic researchers around the world to help support their important research,” said Ron Bonner, Principal Scientist, AB SCIEX. “As a leader in liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry technologies that are used in proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics research, AB SCIEX is in a strong position to work as a trusted partner alongside these investigators to help them unlock the secrets of diseases and unexplored areas of biology.”

The AB SCIEX Academic Partnership Program is comprised of three main components:
  • A collection of ready-to-use reference material, organized by instrument type and application area, that researchers may cite in their research proposals.
  • Direct access to regional technical specialists who can provide a wide range of assistance to scientists in the process of writing grant proposals.
  • The opportunity to apply for a limited number of sponsorships when research goals are aligned with AB SCIEX’s areas of focus. (Sponsorships will initially be granted in the U.S. and Canada.)
AB SCIEX Academic Partnership Program website: www.absciex.com/academicpartnership.


Source: MarketWatch
 
15 Mar 2012
Revolution in Personalized Medicine: First-Ever Integrative 'Omics' Profile Lets Scientist Discover, Track His Diabetes Onset - Geneticist Michael Snyder, PhD, has almost no privacy. For more than two years, he and his lab members at the Stanford University School of Medicine pored over his body's most intimate secrets: the sequence of his DNA, the RNA and proteins produced by his cells, the metabolites and signaling molecules wafting through his blood. They spied on his immune system as it battled viral infections.

Finally, to his shock, they discovered that he was predisposed to type-2 diabetes and then watched his blood sugar shoot upward as he developed the condition during the study. It's the first eyewitness account -- viewed on a molecular level -- of the birth of a disease that affects millions of Americans. It's also an important milestone in the realization of the promise of truly personalized medicine, or tailoring health care to each individual's unique circumstances.

The researchers call the unprecedented analysis, which relies on collecting and analyzing billions of individual bits of data, an integrative Personal "Omics" Profile, or iPOP. The word "omics" indicates the study of a body of information, such as the genome (which is all DNA in a cell), or the proteome (which is all the proteins). Snyder's iPOP also included his metabolome (metabolites), his transcriptome (RNA transcripts) and autoantibody profiles, among other things.

The researchers say that Snyder's diabetes is but one of myriad problems the iPOP can identify and predict, and that such dynamic monitoring will soon become commonplace. "This is the first time that anyone has used such detailed information to proactively manage their own health," said Snyder. "It's a level of understanding of health at the molecular level that has never before been achieved."

The research was published in the March 16 issue of Cell. Snyder, who chairs the Department of Genetics, is the senior author. Postdoctoral scholars Rui Chen, PhD, George Mias, PhD, Jennifer Li-Pook-Than, PhD, and research associate Lihua Jiang, PhD, are co-first authors of the study, which involved a large team of investigators.


Source: ScienceDaily

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

5) Metabolomics Events
16 Apr 2012

Application of Combined 'omics Platforms to Accelerate Biomedical Discovery in Diabesity
Venue: The New York Academy of Sciences, New York, New York

The explosive rise in obesity and attendant diabetes (diabesity), threatens the health of children and adults in Western and developing Asian countries. This symposium focuses on the breakthrough discovery potential of metabolomics. Metabolomics, in concert with high-content data from other 'omics technologies, can reveal the connections between metabolic phenotype and molecular underpinnings of diabesity, identifying new therapeutic targets and developing new and innovative targeted therapies. In addition to a day of outstanding science by academic thought leaders, industry leaders will contribute to a panel discussion on the emerging revolution in bioinformatic platforms that enable multi-omic metabolic pathway analysis. These new platforms are expected to provide a game-changing acceleration of future biomedical discoveries.
 
Organizers: Steven Gross (Weill Cornell Medical College), Irwin Kurland (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Jennifer Henry (The New York Academy of Sciences)
 
Speakers: Domenico Accili (Columbia University), Charles Burant (Michigan Nutrition Obesity Research Center), Barbara B. Kahn (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center & Harvard Medical School), Irwin Kurland (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), Christopher B. Newgard (Duke University Medical Center), and Gabriele V. Ronnett (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
 
Panelists: Steven M. Fischer (Agilent Technologies), John Ryals (Metabolon), Mark Sanders (Thermo Fisher Scientific), Joe Shambaugh (Genedata Expressionist), John Shockcor (Waters Corporation)

For more information, visit http://www.nyas.org/Diabesity2012.
Event flyer (PDF): http://www.metabonews.ca/Mar2012/events/DiabesityFlyer.pdf
17-20 Apr 2012

analytica Conference 2012
Venue: Munich, Germany

For the classical exhibition area, the analytica Conference provides the perfect complement. It has been a decisive factor in establishing analytica as the pre-eminent meeting point for the industry.

In various symposiums, leading scientists from all over the world report on the latest developments, current trends and visions of the future. Analytic, diagnostic, biochemical and molecular biological methods and procedures are discussed here. On the last occasion, 140 well-known experts gave talks in 23 different thematic symposiums.

Main subject emphases/highlights of the analytica Conference 2010
  • Presentation of the Gerstel Award and the Bunsen-Kirchhoff Award
  • Patient-oriented laboratory diagnostics
  • Separation techniques in the life sciences
  • Doping analytics
  • Proteome research
  • Measurement and toxicology of particulate matter
  • Modern analytical methods for the chemical analysis of art objects
  • Analytical contributions to the treatment of diabetes
The 2012 event will focus on topics such as acute diagnostics and clinical metabolomics.
3-4 May 2012

Canadian Bioinformatics Workshops: Informatics and Statistics for Metabolomics
Venue: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Lead Faculty (2012): David Wishart
Registration Fee for Applications received before April 4, 2012: $500 + HST - Early Bird Registration - Save $200
Registration Fee for Applications received after April 4, 2012: $700 + HST
There are travel and registration awards available for students - Apply now!

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.

Course Objectives
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.

Register now as space is limited to 30 participants.
 


7-8 May 2012

LIPID MAPS Annual Meeting 2012: Lipidomics Impact on Cell Biology, Metabolomics and Translational Medicine
Venue: La Jolla, CA, USA

This is an exciting time for the emerging field of lipidomics. With the development and evolution of sophisticated mass spectrometers linked to highly efficient liquid chromatography systems, individual molecular species of lipids can now be isolated and identified, allowing us to begin to understand lipid metabolism and the treatment of lipid-based diseases (atherosclerosis and inflammatory disease as well as arthritis, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease). Recent awareness that each category of lipid consists of thousands if not tens of thousands of individual molecular species requires sophisticated informatics to ensure consistent databasing and annotation of the numerous lipid molecular species and analysis of tremendous quantities of experimental data. The goal of this meeting is to bring together biological and biomedical scientists in a wide range of fields to share new findings and methods in the broader lipidomics field and to explore joint efforts to extend the use of these powerful new methods to new applications. Presentations will provide an excellent introduction for scientists new to these methods, and are sure to be of interest to lipidomics veterans to learn about latest techniques and research results.
 
The meeting program tentatively features the following six sessions:
  • Cancer
  • Inflammation
  • Macrophage Biology
  • Metabolic Disease
  • Metabolomics
  • Translational Medicine
For more information, please visit http://www.lipidmaps.org/meetings/2012annual/
20-24 May 2012

60th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics
Venue: Vancouver, BC, Canada

The conference and short courses will be held at the Vancouver Convention Centre, 1055 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC V6C 0C3, Canada.  All oral sessions, poster sessions, exhibit booths, and corporate hospitality suites will be located in the Convention Centre.

Important Dates:
Jan 9, 2012:  Conference registration and lodging opens online
Feb 3, 2012:  Deadline for submission of abstracts
Apr 14, 2012:  Conference program online
Apr 30, 2012:  Deadline for advance registration
21-23 May 2012

Les 6èmes Journées Scientifiques du Réseau Français de Métabolomique et Fluxomique (JS 6 RFMF)
Venue: Nantes, France

The 6th Scientific Days of the French Network of Metabolomics and Fluxome will be held in Nantes from 21 May 2012 to May 23, 2012, organized by the platform Corsaire, the platform of Metabolomics Biogenouest. Corsair includes eight technical support centers located throughout Western France (Brest, Nantes, Rennes, and Roscoff).
 
The main topics selected for JS 6 RFMF are:

  • Applications of metabolomics and fluxomics in the areas of the sea, agronomy and health.
  • Technological developments, bioinformatics, and statistical processing

For more information, please visit https://colloque4.inra.fr/6_js_reseau_francais_metabolomique_fluxomique.
25-28 June 2012

METABOLOMICS 2012: Breakthroughs in plant, microbial and human biology, clinical and nutritional research, and biomarker discovery
Venue: Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC, USA

The annual meeting of the Metabolomics Society brings together metabolomics researchers from around the world to discuss their most recent achievements as they work to harness the power of metabolomics. Gathering together in a hospitable venue is key to developing the collegial interactions that can build a successful community that advances together.
 
The 2012 meeting promises a program full of practical workshops and parallel sessions covering the broad range of biological and technological metabolomics topics as well as providing rich opportunities for networking. Join us as we gather together to share ideas, insights, advances and obstacles in the multi-faceted world of metabolomics.

For more information, please visit http://www.metabolomics2012.org.
10 July 2012

Merck Deep Dive: Translational Technologies for Basic and Clinical Scientists
Venue: Ocean Place Resort and Spa, Long Branch, New Jersey, USA

Join us for another in this quarterly unique series that brings together about 150 Merck subject experts and key vendors. Sponsors and Exhibitors can display products and services to a very focused set of the Merck community leaders. Select exhibitors are given an opportunity to privately present upcoming product development and get instant feedback from Merck on where they would like to see development go to meet their upcoming needs. Topic for this event: Translational Technologies for Basic and Clinical Scientists. Molecular BioMarkers (Proteomics/Genomics/Metabolomics) is a key part of this event.
28-31 Aug 2012

NuGOweek 2012 (9th Edition): “Nutrition, lifestyle and genes in the changing environment”
Venue: Helsinki, Finland

NuGOweek 2012: “Nutrition, lifestyle and genes in the changing environment”, will be held from Tuesday afternoon 28 August till Friday 31 August in Helsinki, Finland. This will be the 9th edition of the NuGOweek.

Venue & Accommodation
The conference venue and hotel is the hotel and conference centre Hilton Helsinki Kalastajatorppa .

Scientific & Conference Committee
The members of the Scientific Committee are:
Matti Uusitupa (chair), Jussi Pihlajamäki, Marjukka Kolehmainen, Kaisa Poutanen, Kirsti Husgafvel-Pursiainen, Jim Kaput, Martin Kussmann, Ben van Ommen, Lars Ove Dragsted, Stine Marie Ulven, Antonio Zorzano, Lorraine Brennan

The members of the Conference Organising Committee are:
Marjukka Kolehmainen, Matti Uusitupa, Kaisa Poutanen, Hannu Mykkänen, Jussi Pihlajamäki, Kati Hanhineva, Vanessa de Mello Laaksonen, Fré Pepping, Ingeborg van Leeuwen-Bol.

Further details about the programme will be made available end of February 2012.

Course on Metabolomics
Also this year we will organise a PhD course prior the NuGOweek. From 20-25 August 2012 the Course on Metabolomics 2012 will be held in Kuopio, Finland.

For further information please contact Ingeborg van Leeuwen-Bol or visit http://www.nugo.org/nugoweek/42113/5/0/30.
25-27 Sep 2012

Metabomeeting 2012
Venue: Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester, UK

Established in 2005, the Metabomeeting series is now arranging its seventh International meeting in Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester, UK during 25-27th September 2012.

Previous meetings have been held at King's College, Cambridge, Imperial College London, the Norwich Bioscience Institutes, the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and in Helsinki in collaboration with VTT Research Centre. The Metabomeeting conference focuses on providing a forum for researchers in metabolomics to meet and discuss all aspects of its research, development and application.

Confirmed speakers for the meeting include:
Professor Robert Hall, Plant Research International, The Netherlands, who will present the plenary lecture.
Professor Rainer Breitling, University of Glasgow, UK.
Professor Hannelore Daniel, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Dr Jerome Jansen, Raboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Dr Nick Lockyer, University of Manchester, UK.
Professor George Nychas, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece.
Professor Ian Wilson, AstraZeneca, UK.

You are invited to submit abstracts for consideration for podium presentations. All abstracts need to be submitted before May 4th 2012.

More details are available via http://thempf.org/mpf_cms/index.php/conferencesworkshops/forthcoming-mpf-events/78-metabomeeting-2012.
7-9 Nov 2012

29th LC/MS Montreux Symposium
Venue: Montreux, Switzerland

Short Courses: November 5-6, 2012
The Montreux LC/MS 2012 conference: Special highlights on Metabolomics and Clinical Chemistry

The field of LC/MS is continuously growing as is reflected by the participation of over 30 nationalities and by scientific contributions from a variety of research and development domains such as pharmaceutical, biotechnological, food, environmental and research on novel instrumentation and new LC/MS fields such as nanotechnology and microfluidics, UPLC, low flow rate spray techniques, proteomics, and systems biology.

In collaboration with the Metabolomics Society, a special joint parallel program for this rapidly emerging field is organized addressing the technology as well as novel systems-based biology approaches in pharma, nutrition, clinical chemistry, plant sciences, and medical biology. A parallel program is organized together with various Clinical Chemistry societies focusing on current and future LC/MS options in clinical diagnosis. Accreditation by related societies for the program as well as the short course has been applied for.

For more information, visit http://www.lcms-montreux.com/.
Conference flyer (PDF): http://www.metabonews.ca/Mar2012/events/flyer_LC-MS _Montreux_conference_2012.pdf



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

6) 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 Date Posted Source
Lectureship in Metabolomics (pdf coming soon) - Systems Science for Health - A new University Initiative in the application of metabolomics and modelling to human disease University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK 31-Mar-2012 Environmental Metabolomics Research Laboratory, University of Birmingham
Postdoctoral research position: Experimental Officer in Metabolomics with emphasis in targeted metabolite analysis by LC-MS/MS (pdf coming soon) University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK 31-Mar-2012 Environmental Metabolomics Research Laboratory, University of Birmingham
Postdoctoral research position: Bioanalytical chemist with emphasis in NMR metabolomics (pdf coming soon) University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK 31-Mar-2012 Environmental Metabolomics Research Laboratory, University of Birmingham
PhD Research Project: Metabonomic evaluation of Lactobacillus salivarius ability to protect against Brachyspira pilosicoli-induced intestinal spirochetosis University of Reading Reading, UK 31-Mar-2012 FindAPhD.com
Post-­doctoral Position CIC bioGUNE Centre Bilbao, Bizkaia, SPAIN 26-Mar-2012 Metabolomics Society Jobs
PhD Studentship in Bioanalytical Chemistry University of Birmingham Birmingham, UK 22-Mar-2012 Metabolomics Society Jobs
PhD fellowship: "Metabolomics of Nicotiana attenuata’s ecological interactions" Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena, Germany 21-Mar-2012 Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Post-doctoral position at INRA (France): Metabolomics for identification of new biomarkers of dietary intake and nutritional exposure
 UNH-INRA Centre de Recherche de Clermont-Ferrand/Theix Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France
 8-Feb-2012
 UNH-INRA Centre de Recherche de Clermont-Ferrand/Theix
Postdoctoral position in Phytochemistry: Phytochemical investigation of Medicinal Plants
 University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa
 6-Feb-2012
 Metabolomics Society Jobs
Associate Director/Director – Metabolomics (Seeking an experienced PhD Scientist to lead in-house metabolomics team that is developing and applying state-of-the-art approaches to investigate the intersection of cancer cell biology and metabolism.)
 PharmaLogics Recruiting
 Cambridge, MA
 3-Feb-2012
 Metabolomics Society Jobs
PhD position: Project DRIFT “Determination of Residues in Food Testing”
 LABERCA
 Nantes, France 2-Feb-2012
 LABERCA


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.

Note: There are no postings at this time.

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