Mass Spectrometry-based Metabolomics: Technology and Applications

Trainers: Jun. Prof. Dr. Thierry Schmidlin, Dr. Boyao Zhang; Institute of Immunology, University Medical Center Mainz

Topics:

• Introduction
  • The clinical relevance of measuring small molecules
  • Typical compound coverage achieved by metabolomics, and their significance: e.g. endogenous metabolites (energy balance, anabolism/catabolism, signaling), exogenous compounds (ADME, xenobiotics, antigens)
  • Typical entry points of metabolomics in biochemical/medical research
  • Examples of successful metabolomics applications

• Basics of MS based Metobolomics
  • Introduction to LC-MS/MS technology
  • Levels of information obtained from chromatography, MS and MS/MS
  • Strategies to infer chemical/biological information from these datasets

• Planning an experiment
  • Strategies for successful experiment design (targeted metabolomics, metabolic profiling, flux analysis)
  • Dos and don'ts in MS sample preparation
  • Key aspects to be considered such as analyte stability, measurement sensitivity, preanalytical consideration, best extraction procedures, compatibility of metabolomics with various experiment- and sample types (e.g. FACS, FFPE)

• Data analysis and interpretation
  • Basic data analysis strategies: how to best proceed after obtaining a dataset
  • Distilling biological information from MS data and designing follow up experiments

• Q&A

Methodology: Lectures and practical demonstrations in two small working groups

Target audience: Doctoral candidates, clinician scientists, postdoctoral researchers

Preparation: There is room to cover specific additional topics if required – please send your requests to TransMed two weeks in advance. 

Maximum Number of Participants: 10

Next workshop: TBA

TransMed Creditpoints: 0,8 in scientific skills