Research in clinical metabolomics

Focus and mission

Our mission is to establish cutting edge mass spectrometry-based metabolomics methods for better understanding of disease etiology and diagnosis in early life.

Analytical methods

We strive to develop high-resolution, fast mass spectrometry-based analytical methods suitable for measurement of population size cohorts. Our analytical focus is on liquid chromatography combined with high resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Computational methods

Current metabolomics data analysis workflows pose limitations to population size cohorts. Thus, we strive to develop fast computational solutions for the analysis of population size mass spectrometry-based metabolomics data. For chemical structural annotation and biological interpretation of our data we work with diverse metabolome mining tools (e.g. GNPS, MS2LDA, Sirius, MZmine3).

Sample types

Our main focus is on neonatal dried blood spots, whereof over 2 million are currently stored at the Danish Neonatal Screening Biobank. This vast population-based sample resource fosters unique opportunities for our research, but we also work with other clinical and biobanked sample types, such as serum or plasma.

Collaborations

We work in close collaboration with national and international research groups, universities and centers of excellence at the interphase of personalized medicine, metabolomics, microbiome and register-based research and epidemiology.

Teaching

Our group is involved in diverse teaching activities within Denmark and internationally. We have hosted the 3rd International Summer School on Non-Targeted Metabolomics Data Mining for Biomedical research in 2023 at Statens Serum Institut in collaboration with Aarhus University and the University of Tübingen. Videos of all teaching sessions are publicly available at YouTube.

Selected Publications

• Filip Ottosson, Francesco Russo, Anna Abrahamsson, Nadia MacSween, Julie Courraud, Zaki Krag Nielsen, David M. Hougaard, Arieh S. Cohen, Madeleine Ernst. Effects of Long-Term Storage on the Biobanked Neonatal Dried Blood Spot Metabolome. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 34/2023, 685-694.
• Julie Courraud, Francesco Russo, Gonçalo Espregueira Themudo, Susan Svane Laursen, Andrés Ingason, David M. Hougaard, Arieh S. Cohen, Thomas Werge & Madeleine Ernst. Metabolic signature of the pathogenic 22q11.2 deletion identifies carriers and provides insight into systemic dysregulation. Translational Psychiatry 13/2023, 391.
• Gözde Gürdeniz, Madeleine Ernst, Daniela Rago, Min Kim, Julie Courraud, Jakob Stokholm, Klaus Bønnelykke, Anders Björkbom, Urvish Trivedi, Søren J. Sørensen, Susanne Brix, David Hougaard, Morten Rasmussen, Arieh S. Cohen, Hans Bisgaard, Bo Chawes. Neonatal metabolome of caesarean section and risk of childhood asthma. European Respiratory Journal 59/2022, 21024-6.
• Madeleine Ernst, Simon Rogers, Ulrik Lausten-Thomsen, Anders Björkbom, Susan Svane Laursen, Julie Courraud, Anders Børglum, Merete Nordentoft, Thomas Werge, Preben Bo Mortensen, David M. Hougaard & Arieh S. Cohen. Gestational age-dependent development of the neonatal metabolome. Pediatric Research 89/2020, 1396-1404.