The 5th Canadian Metabolomics Conference (CanMetCon) 2024, held at the University of British Columbia, showcased outstanding research in integrating metabolomics with other omics. This year’s winners exemplify the cutting-edge work being done in this field. Here, we highlight the contributions of the oral and poster presentation winners, celebrating their achievements and exploring the impact of their research.
Oral Presentation Winners
First Place: Alisha Greene (University of British Columbia Okanagan)
Alisha Greene’s study, “Metabolomic Analysis of Wildfire-Exposed and Award-Winning Wines in the Okanagan Valley,” delves into how wildfire smoke affects grapevine chemistry and terroir. Her research at the PlantSMART lab employs metabolomics to understand these effects, providing insights that could revolutionize the wine industry by identifying markers of smoke exposure and informing strategies to mitigate its impact.
Alisha Greene (she/her) is a master’s student in the Department of Chemistry at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. She works in the PlantSMART lab through a Mitacs internship, where she uses metabolomics to understand the effect of smoke on grapevine chemistry and terroir. Alisha began her academic journey with an Associate of Science Degree from Okanagan College, after which she transferred to UBC Okanagan to complete her Bachelor of Science with a major in Chemistry. Her professional experience began with winemaking in a research lab at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as a co-op student. Prior to her graduate degree, Alisha was analyzing samples using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high-resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. At UBCO, Alisha is dedicated to mentorship, actively volunteering with the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) mentorship program for undergraduate students.
What is the key point or highlight that you want the audience to take away from your presentation?
The key point I’d like the audience to take away from the presentation is that an untargeted metabolomics workflow was used to generate new hypotheses regarding how wildfire smoke affects the terroir of finished wines. We have opened up new avenues of wine research regarding an issue that greatly affects the Okanagan’s wine industry, but is useful in other parts of the world as well. I think future experiments will be creative and fun and will help us to learn about some questions we’ve had for a long time.
Where do you think the future of this technology lies?
I think the future of the technology requires further validation and standardization of the untargeted methods used. There are of course many different methods being used to collect untargeted data, and there isn’t going to be one method that fits all. There are many great researchers working on this issue and there were productive conversations being had at the conference on the importance of validation and standardization. This is not a simple task, and will require lots of collaboration, but it is an important one.
What are your thoughts on integrating metabolomics with other omics or multiomics research in a broader context?
I personally have not done any work on integrating metabolomics with other omics, but the conference definitely stressed how important it is! I thought the conference was a great learning experience, and the community was extremely welcoming and helpful. I would highly recommend this conference to my peers, especially if they are like me and are new to the field.
Second Place: Zachary Kroezen (McMaster University)
Zachary Kroezen’s presentation, “Comprehensive Drug Surveillance of Clinically Depressed Patients by Multisegment Injection-Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry,” focuses on improving drug screening approaches. By utilizing MSI-CE-MS, Kroezen offers a more accurate and comprehensive method for drug surveillance, crucial in addressing the opioid crisis and enhancing care for high-risk populations.
Zachary graduated from McMaster University in 2019 where he majored in chemistry. Shortly thereafter he began his current role in the Britz-McKibbin research group. His research began with a focus on Drugs of Abuse (DoA) testing using multisegment injection-capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (MSI-CE-MS), a method developed and validated in their lab. Recently, he has been involved in collaborative works with colleagues from McMaster, other academic institutions, and industry partners, performing metabolomic analyses on a variety of biological samples including urine, serum, plasma, cord blood, intestinal fluid, tissue, stool, cecum, saliva, dried blood spots, and cell extracts. His current research project has come full circle as he is once again studying DoA testing, where he is trying to improve current screening approaches which lack specificity and are prone to bias. MSI-CE-MS offers a promising approach to DoA screening given it is rapid, provides comprehensive DoA monitoring, and is more accurate than current approaches such as immunoassays.
What is the key point or highlight that you want the audience to take away from your presentation?
Given the alarming trend of opioid toxicity deaths and the culture of polypharmacy that exists in Canada, improvements need to be made to the current drug screening algorithm. This current two-tiered approach which uses immunoassays and LC-MS/MS is not fit for a rapid test, that is both accurate and comprehensive for real-time monitoring of a plethora of drugs. MSI-CE-MS offers a promising approach that could revolutionize how we care for high-risk populations given its merits, which match the throughput capabilities of immunoassays, but also provides superior accuracy and drug coverage for drug screening.
Where do you think the future of this technology lies?
Next steps include further validation. The implications of drug screening, as you can imagine, are quite profound so it is vital that any new protocols are fully validated and tested. Additionally, given the wide acceptance of the current screening approach, we also need to demonstrate a considerable improvement over current techniques for there to be a shift from one platform to another.
What are your thoughts on integrating metabolomics with other omics or multiomics research in a broader context?
Having additional omics data that can be integrated with metabolomics is vital to provide a wholistic view. This can help us better understand the underlying mechanisms of what we are observing. CanMetCon is a great opportunity that brings not only the metabolomics community together, but also brings our proteomic and genomic friends into the conversation.
Third Place: Stephanie Bishop (University of Calgary)
Stephanie Bishop’s work, “A Toolkit for Automating Quantitative Metabolomics and Integrating Multi-Omics Datasets,” introduces new software tools such as SCALiR and MINNO. These tools streamline metabolomics workflows and enable easy visualization of multi-omics data, making advanced metabolomics accessible to researchers of all backgrounds.
Dr. Stephanie Bishop (PhD, she/her) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Ian Lewis’ lab in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary. Her research interests include bacterial chemistry, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), metabolomics data visualization, and using multi-disciplinary techniques to study complex model systems. She obtained a BSc. in Chemistry and Spanish from the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) and her PhD studies in Analytical Chemistry at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (Kelowna, Canada) examined the effects of different environments on cyanobacterial growth and metabolism. Stephanie recently received a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Postdoctoral Fellowship to investigate the role of metabolism in shaping drug resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections. She has also developed several products that streamline and simplify metabolomics workflows, including a chemical standard mix and software tools for automating quantitative LC-MS metabolomics and visualizing metabolic networks of non-model organisms.
What is the key point or highlight that you want the audience to take away from your presentation?
New open-source software tools including SCALiR (Standard Curve Application for determining Linear Ranges) and MINNO (Metabolic Interactive Nodular Network for Omics) enable automated quantitative metabolomics workflows and the visualization of multi-omics data on non-model organisms metabolic networks. Both of these tools are web-based and do not require any coding knowledge to use, allowing scientists with different levels of bioinformatics expertise to quickly quantify and visualize metabolomics and multi-omics data.
Where do you think the future of this technology lies?
I am excited to see both these software tools implemented into metabolomics workflows for a variety of organisms, especially when looking at central carbon metabolism, which is shared between most organisms and has well-defined metabolic pathways. Our next steps are to find ways to make multi-omics data integration simpler using these software tools in terms of combining datasets with possibly quite different data structures and also exploring possibilities for visualizing cross-species metabolic interactions.
What are your thoughts on integrating metabolomics with other omics or multiomics research in a broader context?
I really enjoyed the theme of this year’s CanMetCon and I believe that multi-omics integration is necessary for us to even begin understanding complex biological systems. It was great to hear about some of the work being done by experts in genomics, glycomics, and proteomics and how these researchers are beginning to incorporate metabolomics into their projects. CanMetCon is an excellent, relatively small conference where you have an opportunity to meet and speak to many established and up-and-coming researchers and I definitely recommend to attend next year!
Poster Presentation Winners
First Place: Hayley Jackson (University of Alberta)
Hayley Jackson’s project, “Artificial Gut: A Cost-Effective and Automated Design for Studying Gastrointestinal Fermentation,” presents a groundbreaking model for studying gut microbiota. This model is not only affordable but also standardized, enhancing reproducibility in gastrointestinal research. Her work promises significant advancements in understanding human health and disease.
Following her graduation in 2023 from the University of Alberta, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences and Bioinformatics, Hayley has beenworking in Dr. Wishart’s esteemed laboratory where she has passionately delved into the realms of metabolomics and bioinformatics. With a keen interest in innovative research, Hayley plans to pursue a Master of Science degree. Her academic journey and research centers on biomarker cataloging, developing novel methods for metabolite discovery, and identifying therapeutic targets for human conditions. Currently, her research endeavors encompass multiple innovative projects. She is updating and refining TMIC databases while simultaneously leading the development of an automated, cost-effective artificial gut model. As she continues this academic journey, Hayley remains driven and looks forward to contributing meaningfully to the scientific landscape.
What is the key point or highlight that you want the audience to take away from your presentation?
The key point that I would like the audience to take away from my presentation is the realm of possibilities and vast potential of this technology. There are many opportunities for scientific advancement using this model, from discovering new compounds and biomarkers, to confirming clinical trials, and better understanding the human gastrointestinal microbiota and its interactions. Along with this, it presents a promising avenue for identifying therapeutic targets for a wide variety of human diseases. Notably, in comparison to other commercially available systems, our model stands out for its a8ordability and standardization, increasing its reproducibility.
Where do you think the future of this technology lies?
I am highly optimistic about the future of the technology highlighted in my presentation. As previously discussed, its versatility spans across a multitude of applications and with future iterations it will continue to improve, becoming more physiologically relevant. This model offers a readily accessible outlet for investigating drug metabolism and for synthesizing new compounds that would otherwise be much too expensive or di8icult to produce. Furthermore, the potential for personalization enables monitoring of individual specific microbiota changes. Looking ahead, one intriguing possibility is the integration of human cells such as Caco-2, allowing for simulation of the intestinal epithelial barrier. Currently, we are still in the developmental and testing phase and are actively working towards establishing a functional system in the near future.
What are your thoughts on integrating metabolomics with other omics or multiomics research in a broader context?
My thoughts on integrating metabolomics with other omics are that it is an intriguing avenue worthy of dedicated research efforts. This fusion holds immense potential for uncovering novel relationships and fostering a more comprehensive understanding of human disease and conditions. In doing so, multiomics proves invaluable, and plays a crucial role in terms of biomarker discovery, research, and understanding. My experience at CanMetCon 2024 was extremely positive and rewarding. The opportunity to engage with brilliant minds in the field was an honour and I would highly suggest to my peers that they attend next year’s CanMetCon.
Second Place: Dorsa Yahya Rayat (University of Alberta)
Dorsa Yahya Rayat’s study, “Physiological Responses to Diet – An N-of-1 Study,” emphasizes the importance of longitudinal monitoring of physiological responses to diet through metabolomics. By integrating wearable technology with omics measurements, her research advances personalized health strategies, offering real-time dietary and lifestyle recommendations.
Dorsa is currently pursuing an MSc in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta, under the supervision of Dr. David Wishart. With a BSc in cellular and molecular biology, her research interests have steered towards precision health, personalized nutrition, and bioinformatics. Her current project involves the longitudinal monitoring of physiological responses to various diets. This study highlights the importance of omics measurements, especially metabolomics, in optimizing individual health outcomes, demonstrating a critical approach in advancing personalized health strategies.
What is the key point or highlight that you want the audience to take away from your presentation?
The main point I want to express is the value of longitudinal monitoring in tracking daily changes in an individual’s physiological responses to different diets. This is evident through changes in their metabolomic profiles. The metabolome is highly dynamic, changing rapidly in response to dietary intake, physical activity, and other lifestyle factors. Through combining omics measurements, especially metabolomic data, with continuous data from wearable devices, we gain a powerful tool for understanding an individual’s health status and its fluctuations over time. This approach not only enhances our ability to observe these changes closely but also allows for real-time adjustments in dietary and lifestyle recommendations that align with personalized needs. Ultimately, this approach leads to more personalized and effective health management strategies.
Where do you think the future of this technology lies?
The integration of advanced omics measurements with wearable technology promises a new era of precision health, where individuals can receive real-time feedback on their physiological state. The next step involves refining these technologies to improve their accuracy and user-friendliness, making it easier for individuals to monitor their physiological responses in real time. This progress will not only make personalized health recommendations more precise but also more feasible for daily use. Extending these methods to a broader population could create opportunities for large-scale health improvements and preventive measures.
What are your thoughts on integrating metabolomics with other omics or multiomics research in a broader context?
Combining metabolomics with other omics is effective for understanding health at a molecular level. This method improves our ability to analyze biological networks and processes, leading to better health predictions and tailored health solutions. CanMetCon 2024 was a great platform for discussing these advancements. The collaboration and information sharing at the conference were impressive and beneficial. I suggest my peers attend next year’s conference in Montreal to stay updated on the latest in metabolic research and to build
Third Place: Botao Liu (University of British Columbia)
Botao Liu’s research, “Extraction of Phosphate-Containing Metabolites and Metabolic Intermediates in LC-MS-Based Untargeted Metabolomics,” focuses on developing bioinformatics tools for recognizing phosphate-containing compounds. His work holds potential applications across various sample types, enhancing our understanding of metabolic processes in plants and other organisms.
Botao Liu is a first year Ph.D. student currently working in Huan lab at University of British Columbia. His research interest is mainly focused on metabolomics. With organic chemistry background, he is also interested in the derivatization of the metabolites for improving the detection and annotation. Now he is working on plant metabolomics. The current work, as shown in the poster, is trying to develop a bioinformatic tool to recognize the phosphate-containing metabolites by using the diagnostic fragment in the experimental MS/MS spectra. Applying this to the plant samples and trying to identify and annotate the phosphate-containing unknowns.
What is the key point or highlight that you want the audience to take away from your presentation?
The bioinformatics tool for recognizing the phosphate-containing compounds can be applied to various sample types, as phosphate-containing compounds are ubiquitous, found in plants, humans, environmental sources, and food products.
Where do you think the future of this technology lies?
We will try to combine the solid phase extraction by using the anion exchange sorbent to our workflow, intending to enrich the phosphate-containing compounds and test other LC columns to deal with the common peak tailing issue of phosphate-containing metabolites.
What are your thoughts on integrating metabolomics with other omics or multiomics research in a broader context?
Yes, our current work is mainly focused on the metabolomics, trying to find the phosphate-containing compounds and biomarkers. If we want to understand the underlying bio-transformation process and meaning, we need to combine our study to the other omics, like genome, proteome, transcriptome, epigenome. The CanMetCon 2024 is excellent, we learned a lots from the conference and I would like to suggest to your peers and friends to attend CanMetCon in Montreal next year.
Third Place: Ana Lucia Rivera Herrera (Université Laval)
Ana Lucia Rivera Herrera’s research on “The Sex-Specific Impact of Human Glycosyltransferase Knockouts on Systemic Metabolomic Profiles” explores the metabolic pathways influenced by UGT gene deletions. Her findings reveal sex-specific impacts on the circulating metabolome, offering molecular insights into disease mechanisms and potential biomarkers for clinical applications.
Ana Lucia is a Colombian biologist who since undergrade choose to enroll in genetics-only courses. There, she discovered her passion for human genetics and mostly hereditary cancer. That passion leads her to work as the head coordinator of the Hereditary Cancer Program (the first of its kind) at the NCI of Colombia for 4 years. Being in that environment inspired her to pursue a career as an independent scientist in human genetics specifically in variant functionalization. This subject requires the comprehensive understanding of several omics. With that vision of the future in mind, she decided to an embark in a PhD. She jointed a project that required her expertise in genetics and that allowed her to explore the new domain of metabolomics and combined them to identify potential new functions of the genes of interest.
What is the key point or highlight that you want the audience to take away from your presentation?
That the combination of two omics lead us to discover the associations of human glycosyltransferase enzymes knockouts (UGT KO) with metabolic pathways and metabolites. That we were able to find sex-specific influence of UGT gene deletions on the circulating metabolome and that blood metabolome profiling offers molecular insights into the processes that influence disease pathogenesis, thereby linking UGT KO to specific disease-related mechanisms.
Where do you think the future of this technology lies?
The intention of many metabolomics projects is to point out biomarkers for diverse diseases and/or phenotypes. I think that the future of the technology lies in the implementation of validated biomarkers in the clinical setting. The next step in our project is to validate our findings in other cohorts and to define causation through the methodologies available.
What are your thoughts on integrating metabolomics with other omics or multiomics research in a broader context?
In my project we actually integrated genetics and metabolomics, together they allow you to answer your research questions in a more comprehensive way. Of course! We have an expert in MS in our team and I recommend him to go next year and maybe present some of the work he does for our lab.
The CanMetCon 2024 winners highlight the innovative and diverse applications of metabolomics integrated with other omics. Their research not only advances scientific knowledge but also paves the way for practical applications in health, agriculture, and environmental sciences. These young scientists exemplify the future of metabolomics, and their contributions will undoubtedly inspire further advancements in the field.
Interviewed and summarized by: Juan Darius
