The first HaemMetabolome workshop and advance training course was held at the University of Barcelona between the 19th and 20th January for Project Partners, Fellows and invited guests.
Topics covered in the workshop included:
- Introduction into biological systems: in vitro/in vivo cell biological assays and shRNA screens (JJ Schuringa - UMCG).
- Introduction in technologies and platforms: Metabolomics and metabolic fluxes by NMR and MS (Ulrich Guenther - UoB).
- Introduction in technologies and platforms: drug screening and cell sorting (Harald Schwalbe - GUF).
Fellows also presented their projects; the talk titles were:
- Characterisation of the metabolism of AML cells;
- Nuria Vilaplana Lopera (ESR1: UoB)
- Characterisation of the metabolism in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL);
- Gaelle Vanderstichelen (ESR2:UoB)
- Mapping the Genetic and Metabolic Variations in Leukaemia Cancers;
- Grigorios Papatzikas (ESR3: UoB)
- Characterising key metabolome regulators in haematopoietic and leukaemic cells;
- Alan Cunningham (ESR4: UMCG)
- The comprehensive study of the metabolism in AML subtypes;
- Aysegul Erdem (ESR5: UMCG)
- Characterization of the role of TKTL1 in acute monocytic leukaemia;
- Inês Baptista (ESR6: UB)
- Develop of metabolic modelling methods to determine metabolic vulnerabilities in haematological malignancies;
- Effrosyni Karakitsou (ESR7: UB)
- Metabolic reprogramming associated to drug resistance in haematological malignancies;
- Miriam Contreras (ESR8:UB)
- Metabolic characterization of leukaemia cells in response to treatment using NMR spectroscopy;
- Islam Alshamleh (ESR9:GUF)
- Hypoxia-induced metabolic shifts in Acute Myeloid Leukemia;
- Johhana Kreitz (ESR10:GUF)
More information on the fellows experiences at the meeting is included in the latest newsletter.
Training sessions provided for the fellows included:
- Outreach training - Tavartis company talk (Johannes Coy - Tavartis).
- Hands-on on computational tools: Genome Scale Metabolic Modeling.
- Hands-on on metabolomic fluxes analysis.
Alan Cunningham's thoughts on the meeting
The inaugural HaemMetabolome workshop took place in Barcelona in January and was a great success. We kicked off with a really nice talk from Professor Schuringa introducing haematopoietic stem cells, haematological malignancy and the work of our lab. Professor Guenther followed with a presentation on metabololomics and specifically NMR, the possibilities and the limitations. Then we had well-polished introductory talks by the fellows with a hearty 3 course Spanish lunch in between. It was great to hear about the focus of everyones project and how they are progressing. Then we had some hands on training in metabolomic flux simulations for the fellows, using software developed by the computational biology teams at the University of Barcelona. It was cool being able to simulate the metabolic effects of conditions such as gene knockouts or hypoxia and would be nice to be able to apply these simulations to our own data. We ended the day at a nearby restaurant with some nice tapas.
The next day we had more two more talks on haematological malignancy and NMR by Professors Hubert Serve and Harold Schwalbe, respectively. Dr. Johannas Coy discussed his finding of the TKTL1 gene and the important role it plays in cancer, as well as his other business focuses. The fellows then resumed our metabolic flux simulation training while the PIs held management discussions
With one day to spare before flying back to the Netherlands, I managed to squeeze in a few attractions around the city, spending almost three hours visiting Park Güell, before going to Sagrada Familia and walking around the city. A couple of beers and some more tapas ended the trip nicely.
It was great meeting all the fellows and partners who attended. The Cascante lab did a great job organising the event. Thank you for the hospitality.