Seminar "LC-MS-based lipidomics: data analysis challenges and applications to psychiatric disorder research"

Thursday, September 1^st, 2022 at 12.00 there will be a seminar on the topic "LC-MS-based lipidomics: data analysis challenges and applications to psychiatric disorder research".

The speaker will be Anna Tkachev, Junior Research Scientist at Vladimir Zelman Center for Neurobiology and Brain Rehabilitation, Skoltech.

Abstract: Technological advances have been indispensable to progress in biological sciences. Prior to the developments in mass spectrometry methods, detailed molecular compositions could not be quantified. In particular, these developments have pushed lipids – essential building blocks of all living cells and key players in energy metabolism – out of the obscurity they have been placed in previously. Untargeted lipidomics analysis, in particular, has the potential of broadening our understanding of lipid function in health and disease, since it is aimed at quantifying these compounds in as much of a broad and unbiased manner as practicably achievable. Studying complex phenotypes, including mental illnesses, from such novel perspectives is especially relevant. In this talk, I will present results from several studies related to altered lipid profiles in psychiatric disorders. Challenges related to untargeted lipidomics data analysis will be discussed, as well: while untargeted lipidomics analysis is potentially extremely informative, computational methods and data processing standards are lagging behind.