UPDATE
Interview: An update to ‘Integrating ion mobility spectrometry into mass spectrome- try-based exposome measurements: what can it add and how far can it go?’ with lead author Thomas O Metz
Tomas O Metz Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, U
thomas.metz@
pnnl.gov
Q
Could you please begin by briefly introduc- ing yourself and your work to date?
Throughout my scientific career, I have been most interested in the study of disease. I have approached this broad interest through the appli- cation of mass spectrometry (MS) and primarily advanced MS-based metabolomics, lipidomics, and proteomics (collectively ‘omics’) techniques. My early career began in the study of diabetes mellitus, both Type 1 and 2, and focused on the impact of chronic, cumulative chemical modi- fication of tissue proteins by the products of browning (also known as Maillard) reactions. These non-enzymatic protein modifications are implicated in the development of diabetic com- plications, such as nephropathy and retinopathy. After completing my PhD studies, I began a post-doc at Pacific Northwest National Labora- tory (WA, USA) where I was trained in advanced MS-based proteomics analyses, and developed methods for MS-based metabolomics and lipi- domics analysis. Thus, I moved beyond targeted analyses of specific non-enzymatic protein modi- fications to comprehensive measurements of the proteome, metabolome, and lipidome in the con- text of disease. Early work in this area focused on identification of protein, metabolite, and lipid biomarkers of Type 1 diabetes, and extended to studies of viral and bacterial infection, both for identification of biomarkers and to understand the host immune response. Throughout my career, I have worked to develop state-of-the- art, high throughput MS-based metabolomics and lipidomics capabilities that are comparable to the existing world-class MS-based proteomics capabilities at Pacific Northwest National Labo- ratory. Currently, I am a Principal Investiga- tor within the Integrative Omics group at Pacific Northwest National Labora- tory, the Team Lead for a group of scientists that focuses on devel- opment and applications of high throughput metabo- lomics and lipidomics
methods to various biological questions, and am primary investigator of a number of projects involving the application of either proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics in various biomedical and environmental contexts.
Q
Your article, ‘Integrating ion mobility spec- trometry into mass spectrometry-based expo-
some measurements: what can it add and how far can it go? ’ is featured in this supplement as one of the most popular Perspective type articles published in Bioanalysis in 2017. Please could you summarize the main takeaway points of your article? The main takeaway points of the article are that: • The exposome, which can include the totality of both endogenous and exogenous compounds in the body, is incredibly complex and difficult to measure effectively; • Ion mobility spectrometry, although not a new analytical technique, is increasingly incorporated into profiling approaches (e.g., metabolomics), and can provide additional dimensions of infor- mation on the exposome; • The ability of ion mobility spectrometry to measure the physical-chemical property of colli- sion cross section opens new doors for identifying metabolites and other chemicals through use of computationally predicted properties that can be compared to experimental values.
Why do you believe your article was so pop- ular with the readers of Bioanalysis? Possibly because many were not yet
Q familiar
with ion mobility spectrometry or its benefits, such as providing an additional dimension of separation, its separation speed, and high reproducibility.
Q
How do you see the field of MS-based expo- some measuring developing over the next 5
years? The metabolomics, chemical analysis, expo- some etc. communities still rely on the use of
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