WORKSHOPS

W-02

LIPIDOMICS

[October 29th: 13:00 - 15:00]

Tuulia Hyötyläinen

Tuulia Hyötyläinen started her tenure as a professor of chemistry at Örebro University in 2016. Holding a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Helsinki, Finland, her primary research interests lie in metabolomics and environmental studies. In the realm of metabolomics research, Tuulia's focus is on conducting comprehensive analyses of all metabolites within a studied biological system. This approach aims to unveil metabolic changes triggered by factors such as disease, environmental influences, nutrition, or genetic factors in an organism. Throughout her research, Tuulia has dedicated efforts to developing efficient, high-throughput methodologies for profiling biological samples. These methodologies encompass both traditional chromatographic methods and cutting-edge techniques, including comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography combined with various mass spectrometers. In her work, Tuulia has pioneered the development of non-targeted profiling methods for discovery studies and targeted analysis of specific compounds. The overarching objective is to achieve the most comprehensive coverage of the metabolome possible. The key focus is on enhancing the reliability and sensitivity of methodologies, particularly for the comprehensive profiling of complex samples. One of the primary challenges in her research involves identifying unknown compounds using mass spectrometric tools, leading to the development of software tools for the treatment of mass spectrometry data. Her current primary research areas include diabetes, fatty liver disease, traumatic brain injury, and exposome studies. Her research has successfully identified specific biomarkers that facilitate the diagnosis or early prediction of diseases. Furthermore, her goal is to pinpoint the metabolic pathways responsible for metabolic alterations in specific diseases or due to various challenges, such as environmental exposure to toxic substances or different nutritional interventions.

Matej Oresic

He holds a PhD in biophysics from Cornell University (1999; Ithaca, NY, USA). He is professor of medicine, with specialization in systems medicine at Örebro University (Sweden) and professor of biochemistry (metabolomics) at the University of Turku (Finland). Prof. Orešič’s main research areas include exposomics and metabolomics applications in biomedical research and systems medicine. He is particularly interested in the identification of environmental exposures (exposome) and disease processes associated with different metabolic phenotypes and the underlying mechanisms linking these processes with the development of specific disorders or their co-morbidities. Prof. Orešič also initiated the popular MZmine open-source project, which led to the development and release of popular software for metabolomics data processing. As of 2016, he was made a Lifetime Honorary Fellow of the Metabolomics Society. Prof.  Orešič currently serves as member of the Board of Directors of the Metabolomics Society and is one of the founders of the Nordic Metabolomics Society, previously serving as its chair of the board. In 2019, he co-chaired the 1st Gordon Research Conference on ‘Metabolomics and Human Health’ (Ventura, CA, USA). Previously, he also chaired the Keystone Symposium on Systems Biology of Lipid Metabolism (2015; Breckenridge, CO, USA).

W-03

mQACC

[October 29th: 15:30 - 17:30]

Dajana Vuckovic

Dajana Vuckovic (Hon. B.Sc. Chemistry, University of Toronto; Ph.D. Analytical Chemistry, University of Waterloo; PDF Chemical and Quantitative Proteomics, University of Toronto) is an Associate Professor and Concordia University Research Chair in Clinical Metabolomics and Biomarkers in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Concordia University. She is also the Director of Concordia’s Centre for Biological Applications of Mass Spectrometry and is a Concordia node leader of The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC), Canada’s national metabolomics network. The Vuckovic group develops new analytical methods and devices to improve metabolite coverage and data quality in metabolomics, with primary focus on low-abundance and unstable metabolites. Her current research interests include in vivo solid-phase microextraction, and the development and  implementation of less invasive microsampling approaches in clinical and pre-clinical research, with the over-reaching goal to facilitate biomarker discovery and validation in cardiovascular disease and nutritional lipidomics. She is co-author of more than 50 publications to date, and has given 55 invited talks and seminars. Her research program has been recognized by the 2023 Fred Beamish Award by the Canadian Society for Chemistry and 2019 Young Investigator Award by the Canadian Society of Mass Spectrometry. Dajana is an active member of metabolomics community and served as the scientific co-chair of Metabolomics 2023 conference held in Niagara Falls, Canada. She currently serves on the editorial boards of Bioanalysis and Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, as Secretary for Metabolomics Association of North America (MANA) and is the co-Chair of the Best Practices Working Group of the international Metabolomics Quality Assurance and Quality Control Consortium (mQACC), whose objective is to harmonize and disseminate best QA/QC practices for untargeted metabolomics. 

Julia Kuligowski

Julia Kuligowski is a Principal Investigator at the Neonatal Research Group at the Health Research Institute La Fe in Valencia (Spain). Her research interests focus on the detection of molecular biomarkers in biofluids of newborns with different pathologies, including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and severe hypoxia secondary to persistent pulmonary hypertension. She has been working in the area of development and validation of oxidative/nitrosative stress biomarkers and tested their applicability for elucidating the biochemical and clinical effects of hypo- and hyperoxia and their relevance for the development of oxidative-stress related pathologies in preterm infants. More recently, she got involved in the development of personalized nutrition approaches for the preterm infant. She has been evaluating the impact of maternal diet on the composition of human milk and how the different compounds present in milk affect growth, health, and development of the preterm infant and she has been working on the characterization of human milk extracellular vesicles, with special emphasis on their lipidic make-up, and how the properties of those vesicles could be exploited for disease prevention or treatment of preterm infants. She is actively participating in different scientific societies and international working groups including the  Metabolomics Quality Assurance and Quality Control Consortium (since 2019), the International Society for Extacellular Vesicles (ISEV) – Milk Task Force, Rigor and Standardization Subcommittee (since 2022), the Metabolomics Society (EEUU) – Lipidomics Task Group (since 2023) and International Organizing Committee (Metabolomics 2019 and 2022), and she acts as Short Term Scientific Mission Coordinator of the COST action EpiLipidNet (2021-2024). Results of her work have resulted in over 140 publications in peer-reviewed, scientific journals and she participated in dissemination and public outreach activities to promote breastfeeding and natural lactation as well as interactive science workshops for kids.

Maria Eugenia Monge

María Eugenia Monge is an Independent Researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) and works at the Centro de Investigaciones en Bionanociencias (CIBION). In 2006, she obtained her Ph.D. in analytical and physical chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires. Between 2007 and 2014, she held postdoctoral positions in Italy, France, and the USA. In 2014, she was recruited by CONICET to set up a new laboratory in a new research center in Argentina, where she leads the Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Group and the Mass Spectrometry facility. Her research group develops MS-based metabolomics and lipidomics analytical methods with applications in health and the environment. As well, her group has contributed with pipelines for preprocessing LC-MS data for quality control procedures in untargeted workflows. She is co-author of >45 peer-reviewed publications. Since 2014, she has coordinated hands-on metabolomics courses at CIBION for South American students, and has participated in strengthening the Latin American community through teaching in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina. Since 2021, she is a founding member of LAMPS (Latin American Metabolic Profiling Society), and has contributed to engage LAMPS as an international affiliate of the Metabolomics Society. Since 2019, she has been a member of the metabolomics quality assurance and quality control consortium (mQACC), and she has been a member of the Metabolomics Society, where she serves on the Membership Committee. In 2022, she was elected to the Metabolomics Society Board of Directors. She is the vice-president of the Argentinean Mass Spectrometry Society. She has served as guest editor for the journal Metabolites, and is an editorial board member of GigaByte. In 2022, she was awarded the Metabolomics Society Medal.

W-05

BENCHTOP NMR SPECTROSCOPY

[October 30th: 13:00 - 15:00 am]   

José Luis Izquierdo-García

Over the past decade, Jose Izquierdo has focused on studying metabolic alterations linked to disease development. Trained in physics, he specialized in NMR-based metabolomic analysis during his doctoral studies. A NIH USA fellowship facilitated his postdoctoral research at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where he developed a hyperpolarized MRI protocol for glioblastomas with IDH1 mutation. Upon returning to Spain in 2015 through a Marie Curie Incoming fellowship, Dr. Izquierdo joined Spanish Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC) to establish a clinical metabolomics line focusing on cardio-respiratory conditions. This laid the foundation for his current research on diagnosing and prognosing respiratory infections through NMR-based metabolomic analysis. In 2018 Dr. Izquierdo joined CIC biomaGUNE as a senior researcher to lead the metabolomics line. Realizing the practical challenges of implementing their research in hospitals due to the high cost and helium dependency of NMR equipment, they explored alternatives with benchtop NMR devices using permanent magnets. Collaborating with MAGRITEK, a leading manufacturer in this field, they validated metabolic biomarkers for tuberculosis detection through bNMR, becoming pioneers in bNMR-based metabolomics. In December 2020, Izquierdo joined UCM as the PI of the "NMR and Imaging in Biomedicine" group. Ongoing research focuses on further developing bNMR-based clinical metabolomics by validating it in clinical studies of different diseases, monitoring individuals at risk for early markers, and advancing the necessary technological development to enhance bNMR capabilities. As the group's PI, he secured funding for equipment acquisition, notably a Magritek 80MHz bNMR spectrometer. His dedication is to ensure that his scientific progress positively impacts society, particularly through the clinical application of research. Within the CIBERES network, he closely collaborates with medical professionals to address their needs. Besides CIBERES, he engages with European networks like INNOVA4TB and ADVANCETB, as well as collaborating with international groups from Uruguay, USA, and UK. Connections with patient associations are also maintained.  Furthermore, he participated in the European Metabolomics Experts Committee to decide the future of "Metabolomics User Case" in the European Bioinformatics Platform ELIXIR (25/04/2017).

Gonzalo Hernández Dossi