News & Events

Charting Metabolism in Health and Disease by Activity Metabolomics and Nanostructure Imaging Mass Spectrometry

Date: 
Friday, April 12, 2019 - 14:00 to 15:00
Speaker: 
Dr. Amelia Palermo
Affiliation: 
The Scripps Research Institute
Event Category: 
APT - Analytical, Physical & Theoretical Seminar
Location: 
Chemistry D215

Abstract:

Metabolites are a functional readout for the activity of biological systems and can actively modulate phenotypes. Despite this evidence, little is known on the functional organization of metabolic pathways in space and how these contribute to the onset of pathological conditions. To tackle these questions, novel analytical approaches and tools are required. This seminar will discuss the emerging mass-spectrometry based approaches for disentangling the fine grain of metabolism in space and for discovering metabolites that actively modulate biological phenotypes. Specifically, we will focus on the application of i) nanostructure imaging mass spectrometry (NIMS) for the exploration of metabolic changes in the gut of mice exposed to different diet conditions, and of ii) metabolomics activity screening (MAS) for unveiling the metabolic modulators of resistant cancer phenotypes overexpressing the programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) immune checkpoint component. Finally the seminar will highlight the future directions in metabolomics and cancer research for the discovery of novel functional associations between metabolism and resistance, with an emphasis on metabolism reprogramming and spatial heterogeneity.