Registration

Introduction and Prologue
Andrew Nicholls, Director & Secretary, Metabolic Profiling Forum, United Kingdom
Jules Griffin, Director, Metabolic Profiling Forum University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

Towards NMR Biopsy
Alan Wong, Senior Scientist, CEA Saclay, France

We present a micro-NMR tool for intact biopsy and cells and whole organisms.

Time of Day Variation in the Human Metabolic Profile and Effect of Sleep Deprivation
Sarah Davies, PostDoc Fellow, University of Surrey, United Kingdom

Targeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomics has been used to examine time of day variation and the effect of total sleep deprivation on plasma metabolite rhythms in healthy male volunteers under highly controlled laboratory conditions.

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Free Workshop
Complementary NMR and MS Solutions to Solve the “Metabolomics Puzzle” Workshop

A Metabolomics Approach to Understanding Thermally-induced Coral Bleaching
Simon Davy, Associate Professor, Head of School, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

We will describe how thermal stress impacts upon metabolite profiles and fluxes in the coral-algal symbiosis that forms the basis of coral reefs, and discuss how metabolomics can help us understand how corals may respond and acclimatise to climate change.

Differential Modulation of Metabolite Clusters in Tomato Genotypes Grown in Different Production Ecosystems
Autar Mattoo, Research Plant Physiologist, USDA Agricultural Research Service, United States of America

Genotype-specific and production system-based segregation of metabolomic variables were characterized in 7 genotypes. We demonstrated that genetically engineered tomato lines are compatible with leguminous cover crop mulch system, with quantitative increase in value-added traits in an economically beneficial manner.

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

Poster Session A

Close of Day One

Registration

NMR Metabolic Profiling of the Effects of Silver Nanoparticles on Human Epidermis Keratinocytes
Iola Duarte, Principal Investigator, University of Aveiro, Portugal

NMR metabolomics of human keratinocytes exposed to silver nanoparticles reveals changes in the levels of glutathione, amino acids, osmoregulators and choline compounds. NMR-stable isotope tracing further reveals increased flux through the pentose phosphate pathway, probably reflecting NP-induced oxidative stress.

Off-target Effects of COX-2 Selective Inhibitors Defined by Metabolomics
Cecilia Castro, Research Associate, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

The main results from an evaluation of the effects of the chronic administration of COX-2 selective inhibitors on healthy mice show changes in the metabolome of the kidney, and an increase in short chain carnitines in the heart and plasma.

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

MetaboLights - The EMBL-EBI Metabolomics Resource
Kenneth Haug, Project Manager and Software Engineer, European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), European Molecular Biology Laboratory, United Kingdom

Over the next few years MetaboLights will exploit open-source analytical tools and investigate workflows for the commonest approaches used in metabolomics. We will add open programmatic access to primary research- and reference data. 

MetExplore 2.0: Handling Genome Scale Metabolic Networks Online
Fabien Jourdan, Research Scientist, INRA-MetaboHub, France

MetExplore 2.0 is a fully online interface (from data import to network visualization) allowing analysis of metabolomics data in the context of metabolic networks.

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

Free Workshop
Expanding Reproducibility and Coverage for Biofilm Metabolomics Workshop

How to Maximize the Structural Output from the Mass Spectrometer? Using Different Fragmentation Approaches for Annotation and Identification of Small Molecules
Justin van der Hooft, Research Associate, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

The structural diversity of small molecules (metabolites) requires new fragmentation approaches to obtain the most rigorous structural information from mass spectrometry approaches. This knowledge will assist in the critical task of populating spectral libraries and permit annotation of unknown metabolites.

Glucose Deprivation Drives Adaptation Towards Lactate Utilisation and Sensitises Tumour Cells to the First-in-class Monocarboxylate Transporter 1 (MCT1) Inhibitor AZD3965
Shyam Solanki, Student, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Tumour cells frequently experience glucose deprivation together with high lactate exposure. Under these conditions lactate imported through MCT1 represents a vital alternative carbon source. Combining molecular biology and metabolomic techniques we show that tumours cells readily adapt to the metabolic environment to utilise lactate for both energy production and anabolism. This creates a specific opportunity for anti-cancer combination therapy involving specific MCT1 inhibitors.

Multiplatform Metabolomics of Oncogene Induced Senescence
Emily Grace Armitage, Postdoc Researcher, Universidad San Pablo, Spain

Oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) is an anti-tumour mechanism of protection against cancer. To study this, we have designed a fibroblast cell line with induced RAS activation and analysed cell extracts over time by GC-MS, LC-QTOF-MS and CE-TOF-MS.

Metabolic Profiling of Geobacter Sulfurreducens During a Scale-up Process
Howbeer Muhamadali, Research Associate, University of Manchester, United Kingdom

The process of bio-magnetite nanoparticle production using G. sulfurreducens and its wide-range of applications have seen increasing interest during the past decade. Here, we scale-up this batch culture bioprocess from 100 mL serum bottles to 5 L bioreactor, and employ metabolic fingerprinting (FT-IR) and profiling techniques (GC-MS) to determine the metabolic response of cells to the scale-up process.

A Combination of Redeployed Drugs Demonstra Potent Anti-leukaemia and Anti-lymphoma Activity through Disruption of Tumour Cell de Novo Lipogenesis
Andrew Southam, PostDoc Fellow, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

The anti-leukemic therapy of bezafibrate and medroxyprogesterone acetate decreases lipogenesis in leukaemia and lymphoma cells. Lipogenic disruption is important for the anti-cancer activity of the treatment and is mediated by alteration of key enzymes in fatty acid synthesis.

Ceramide Metabolism in the Liver and its Role in Two Lysosomal Lipidoses - Drug-induced Phospholipidosis and Sandhoff Disease
Emma Lecommandeur, PhD Student, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

The metabolic effects of drug-induced phospholipidosis were investigated in rats and Hep G2 cells. A remodelling of the ceramide content associated with changes in ceramide synthase gene expressions that may lead to alterations of membrane properties were detected.

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

A Metabolic Signature for Cadmium Exposure in Two Human Populations: A Proof of Concept Study for Exposome Research
Alexandros Siskos, Research Associate, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Using metabolomics we have identified a specific metabolic signature for cadmium exposure in human population studies, providing proof of concept for the use of this technique in exposome and environmental health research.

Evolution Shapes Differences in Bacterial Response to Nutrient Starvation
Volker Behrends, Lecturer, Roehampton University, United Kingdom

Living systems need to be able to respond the nutrient shortages. Here, we show how metabolites can function as stores or signals in the cells’ physiological response to nitrogen starvation in different organisms.

Poster Session B

Conference Dinner at the Royal Institution

Registration

Novel LC-HRMS/MS and Stable Isotope Labelling Assisted Metabolomics Workflows and Data Processing Tools
Christoph Bueschl, PhD Student, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria

Three novel workflows for stable isotope labelling assisted untargeted metabolomics were developed for the a) the global extraction of metabolites accessible via LC-HRMS, b) the study of certain tracers in living organisms and c) improved LC-MS/MS fragment annotation.

Better Data By Design: Ten Sources of Unwanted Bias and Variance in Metabolomic Experiments
David Broadhurst, Assistant Professor, University of Alberta, Canada

As a general rule, little forethought is given toward the design of metabolomics experiments. Here I categorize the major obstacles against rigorous metabolomic research into a set of 10 sources of unwanted statistical error arising throughout the metabolomics workflow.

Coffee and Networking in Exhibiton Hall

A Core Metabolic Enzyme is Responsible for Phosphine Resistance and Fundamental Metabolic Regulation
Horst Joachim Schirra, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland, Australia

A core metabolic enzyme has been identified to be responsible for phosphine resistance and implicated in global metabolic regulation.

Insights into Alzheimer’s Disease from NMR Metabolomics of Aß-expressing Drosophila
Anders Malmendal, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

NMR metabolomics of a Drosophila AD model identifies potential biomarkers long before symptoms are detected and provides a measure of physiological age.

Lunch and Networking in Exhibition Hall

A Metabolomic Signature Linked to Liver Fibrosis Progression Rate in the Serum of Transplanted Hepatitis C Patients
Ainara Cano, Research Scientist, One Way Liver (OWL), Spain

The distinctive metabolic profiles in fast or slow fibrosers after liver transplantation have been determined non-invasively by means of UPLC-MS. The biomarker hunt from patient selection to univariate and multivariate analyses will be discussed.

Preclinical Identification to Clinical Validation of Plasma Metabolomic Signature of Novel Signal Transduction Inhibitors
Florence Raynaud, Group Leader, The Institute of Cancer Research, United Kingdom

Unique changes in plasma metabolite profiles were identified in preclinical tumour models with systemic modulation of the PI3K and RAS-RAF-MEK pathway that were validated in human subjects with advanced solid tumours.

Award of Student and Poster Prizes

Close of Conference