Workshops

Important Workshop Information:

If you are attending Sunday and/or Monday Workshops, click below to view the digital Workshop Book. This document contains directions to the University of Queensland, and other helpful information about all Workshops.

NOTE: Registration does not open until Monday morning at the BCEC. You do not need to pick-up your badge to attend the Sunday Workshops at UQ, just show up and provide your name to enter the session.

WORKSHOP BOOK

 

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Click here to download a PDF version of the schedule.

Workshop Agenda 6 20 17

June 25 At the University of Queensland St. Lucia

Sunday 13:00 - 15:00

ANZMET Round Table + Peer Sessions

Organisers: Dr. Devin Benheim, La Trobe University; Dr. David de Souza, Metabolomics Australia; Dr. Damien Callahan, Deakin University

The hallmark features of the ANZMET Conference (Australian & New Zealand Metabolomics Conference; www.anzmet.org) are its use of facilitated networking through the Round Table Discussion & Peer Sessions. These workshops expose delegates of Metabolomics2017 to a smaller version of the powerful and extremely well-received ANZMET flavor and format:

The roundtable discussion is designed to get the creativity flowing, gathering a rich stew of ideas, themes, desires and questions bubbling in people’s minds! The roundtable provides an opportunity early in the conference to discover other attendees with similar interests and relevant experience. This session helps to determine the Peer Session topics.
The Peer Sessions are informal, topical, focused sessions facilitated by attendees which are interactive and friendly environments. They provide an engaging interpersonal process for open debate, discussion, answers to pressing questions and the development of ideas.

The peer sessions of ANZMET have resulted in the publication of several position papers in the journal metabolites.
We invite all delegates attending to participate in this years’ publications: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/metabolites/special_issues/Metabolomics_Society.

This session is best experienced with a broad demographic of students, researchers, vendors and industry partners in attendance.

 

EMN Workshop: Experimental Design in Metabolomics: How to get started?

Organisers: Tim Causon, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences;  Julia Kuligowski, Health Research Institute La Fe; Johannes Fahrmann, University of Texas MD Anderson

The application of metabolomics has become an important part of biological hypotheses generation and testing over the last 15 years. With a wide range of research questions now seeking metabolome-level information, it brings together a combination of biological, analytical, statistical, and computational elements entailing the use of multidisciplinary skill-sets. Hence, experimental design, including sampling considerations, choice of appropriate analytical strategies (platforms and methods), and quality control assessment play a key-role for a successful metabolomics study in order to allow robust datasets to be produced for meaningful statistical analysis and biological interpretation. This workshop will showcase experts discussing the core goals of experimental design in metabolomics. Possible solutions for commonly encountered challenges in both planning metabolomics studies and selection of suitable analytical strategies including quantification and data quality considerations will also be addressed.

 

Sunday 13:00 - 17:30

MetaboTools: Analysis of metabolomic data in the context of the metabolic model

Organiser: Maike Aurich, Université du Luxembourg

Constraint-based metabolic models consider in detail the metabolite transformations that appear in living cells at steady-state. They can be used to predict intracellular flux routes connecting metabolites cells consume to byproducts they release (exo-metabolome). MetaboTools provides extensive support for the analysis of extracellular metabolomic data in the context of the metabolic model. We will provide lectures at the beginning of the workshop to ensure a basic common understanding of the constraint-based modeling and analysis (COBRA) approach. Hands-on training of a computational workflow of data preparation, integration, and model analysis will allow the participants to get first-hand experience on the requirements, analysis possibilities, and the limits of the intra-model analysis of exo-metabolomic data using MetaboTools. The workshop is designed for participants with limited experience in metabolic modeling and programming.

 

Sunday 15:30 - 17:30

Network medicine approaches for the analysis of metabolomics data

Organiser: Jessica Lasky-Su, Sc.D: Brigham and Womens Hospital Harvard Medical School

Network medicine is a rapidly emerging field that integrates systems biology and network science in the study of complex disease. It provides a holistic approach to better understand disease through the identification and investigation of linear and nonlinear relationships and networks of interacting components. Network medicine and its underlying concepts have numerous applications in many different biological contexts for the study of disease etiology, diagnosis, phenotyping and treatment.

Network medicine is particularly well-suited to the study of metabolomics datasets. These high dimensional, highly collinear and noisy datasets pose a number of analytical challenges that have yet to be fully addressed. To date network approaches have not been widely used in the study of such data, yet the inherent structure and comprehensive nature of metabolomic networks means that these methods are ideal for maximizing the information that can be gleaned from metabolomic studies.

This workshop will provide an introduction to the concepts of network medicine, an overview of network approaches in the analysis of metabolomic data, a discussion of the utility of networks in integrative omics studies, an opportunity for network visualization and an exploration of the advantages and potential pitfalls of such approaches.

 

EMN Workshop: MS Metabolomics Data Processing

Organisers: Jan Stanstrup, Steno Diabetes Center, Denmark; Charmion Cruickshank-Quinn, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Processing large amounts of untargeted metabolomics data can be daunting, and the publicly available software tools rarely include an easy-to-understand walk-through. Participants will learn about several open source tools for analyzing their untargeted LC/MS and GC/MS data and how to get their spectra and raw data in the format needed for statistical analysis. The workshop will explain XCMS, CAMERA, and associated tools to process untargeted metabolomics data by providing examples, and demonstrating how to use the software. There will be a focus on practical skills and pitfalls so that the participants have an understanding of how to approach their data and answer their questions after the workshop.

 

June 26 At the Brisbane Convention & Exposition Centre (BCEC)

Monday 8:45 - 10:15

EMN Workshop: Statistical Considerations and Pathway Analysis Strategies for Metabolomics Datasets

Organisers: Johannes F. Fahrmann, University of Texas, MD Anderson; Fidele Tugizimana, University of Johannesburg; Stacey Reinke, Murdoch University

Over the past decade, major advancements in untargeted and targeted metabolomics technologies have enabled high-throughput analysis of 1000s of biochemical perturbations associated with various organismal processes and pathological conditions. Statistical analysis of large datasets remains a bottleneck. Furthermore, the successful integration and interpretation of metabolomic datasets requires adequate background knowledge of associated biochemical pathways, an aspect that may not be attributed to all scientists, particularly those that are new to the field. The primary intents of this workshop are to 1) highlight important statistical/chemometric considerations for metabolomic datasets and 2) provide education on biochemical pathway mapping approaches. This workshop is primarily targeted towards beginners in the metabolomics field, including early-career researchers, but also everyone who is using metabolomics to complement their own existing research.

 

Role of Metabolomics for Health & Diet Research

Organisers: Lee Gethings, Waters Corporation; David Heywood, Waters Corporation; Antonietta Wallace, Waters Corporation

Application of OMIC workflows, particularly metabolomics has shown to provide insight into health and food as well as the complex relationship which exists between both. Understanding bioavailability of food in the body for short and long term wellbeing is of increasing interest. New research is emerging based on advances from technology and metabolomic standpoints, to understand the nature of disease, nutritional diet and the role diet plays physiologically.

This interactive workshop will provide in-depth discussion regarding technological advances from an LC-MS, ambient ionisation and informatic perspective. Integration of these technologies into metabolomic workflows will be presented by leading academic and industrial users, demonstrating how these approaches can be used to better understand the complex relationship between diet and health.

 

Data Sharing, Standardisation and Workflow for reproducible analysis in Metabolomics

Organiser: Reza Salek, EMBL-EBI; Oliver Jones, RMIT University; Saravanan Dayalan, University of Melbourne; Masanori Arita, National Institute of Genetics; Pablo Moreno, EMBL-EBI; Christoph Steinbeck, Friedrich-Schiller-University

Reproducing results in any science is quite challenging. In the field of metabolomics, for results to become reproducible, descriptions of an investigation in a manuscript are not sufficient. To surpass this, and increase the chance of result reproducibility, standard frameworks for data sharing and sharing of experimental data are invaluable. We now have several data sharing platforms such as MetaboLights and Metabolomics Workbench that aim to make use of such standards to promote data-sharing. In this workshop, we will discuss data sharing as well as metabolomics data formats, much of which are adopted from the efforts in the proteomics HUPO-PSI initiative. Examples and application of data formats such as mzML and nmrML would be given. We will also present and discuss mzTab developments for metabolite identification. We will also demonstrate how emerging metabolomics data sharing platforms can promote open, accessible data sharing standards. Finally, we will discuss computational workflows for metabolomics data analysis within the PhenoMeNal e-infrastructure. We hope to make the metabolomics community aware of such efforts and ideally how to get involved.

 

Hybrid Ion Mobility MS

Organiser: Endre Laczko, FGCZ, ETH Zürich and University of Zürich

Hybrid Ion Mobility – Mass Spectrometry systems (IMS – MS) are known for many years. Today, IMS-MS systems are available from several vendors (TofWerk, Waters, Agilent, Bruker, ABSciex, Thermo may follow soon), however they are still rarely used for metabolomics. In this workshop the currently available IMS-MS types will be presented and their use for metabolomics will be discussed. Further, it will be explained how an IMS-MS method is set up and how the resulting data is analysed. Exemplary cases will allow the participants to valuate IMS-MS metabolomics data in comparison to metabolomics data from other systems currently in use. It is planned to include a Q&A session and to explore the interest for an IMS user group.

 

Monday 10:30 - 12:00

EMN Workshop: Career Development

Organisers: Jan Stanstrup, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen; Stacey Reinke, Murdoch University; Fidele Tugizimana, University of Johannesburg

Regardless of individual area of research, one topic that is invariably on the minds of all early-career researchers is their career. Many postgraduate degrees are not associated with clear career trajectories. Moreover, as students and postdocs are largely trained in the academic setting they lack exposure and training specific to other career paths. In this workshop, early-career researchers will hear from speakers who chose careers outside research-based academic positions. The speakers will use their own experience to formulate actionable career progression advice for early-career scientists. Following the presentations, we will have 30 minutes for open discussion and questions so that attendees can directly interact with our speakers. Through this workshop, we hope to make early-career researchers more aware of their career options and potential paths to obtain them.

 

Clinical Biomarker Detection

Organiser: Nick Rattray, Yale University; Roy Goodacre, University of Manchester; David Broadhurst, Edith Cowan University

The development of metabolomics as a translational tool within the clinical realm is one of the major applications for our area of science, with important advances being made in areas such as risk assessment, early detection and diagnosis of disease, prognosis of drug action and therapeutic evaluation. But the journey from biomarker discovery to clinical translation is a long one and requires an expert understanding and application of study design, sample prep and bioanalysis coupled with a functional understanding of the data that is generated. This inherent multi-levelled complexity is a major challenge in the field.

The purpose of this workshop is to overview the experimental workflow used within the biomarker development pipeline and will include insights from experts in the field of metabolomics who will give examples of their experiences and provide tips and advice to new-comers in the field and help explain how to overcome the issues of complexity. The overall aim is to showcase advances made in aspects such as design of experiments and interpretation of metabolite data in a clinical context and will thus align with the Health and Wellness focus of the conference.

 

Metabolite Identification: Current Approaches and Reporting Standards

Organiser: Dr Warwick Dunn, University of Birmingham

Metabolite identification (sometimes defined as annotation) is a key component of any untargeted metabolomics workflow to enable the delivery of biological knowledge and impact from analytical data. The processes applied to identify metabolites are numerous and are dependent on the complexity of sample, analytical platform applied and quality of data acquired. Based on the reported spectral evidence, a confidence level for the metabolite or feature identification is given. The development of reporting standards and in particular of confidence levels for metabolite identification was initiated in 2007 by the Metabolomics Standards Initiative [Sumner et al. Metabolomics, 2007, 3, 211] and these reporting standards are currently being assessed and revised. In this workshop a panel of experts will provide their current insights into the complexities and solutions for metabolite identification applying NMR spectroscopy, gas/liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and imaging mass spectrometry, followed by a Q&A session to allow the metabolomics community to question the panel and also to provide their own insights and comments.

 

Advances in High Throughput Targeted Metabolomics Analysis

Organisers: Judith Denery, Amyris, Inc.; Rich Ellson, Labcyte, Inc.; Steven Gross, Weill Cornell Medical College; Alex Apffel, Agilent Research Laboratories; 

In the last several years a number of approaches have been developed to increase the throughput of targeted metabolomics analysis. Each has advantages and disadvantages in terms of speed, sensitivity and specificity. Each has also been developed in a specific application context and designed to meet the needs of that application. This workshop will explore a number of these approaches while explaining how the technology serves the needs of the specific application area.