Decoding Biochemistry with Metabolomics: Turning MS/MS Spectra into Functional Insight

Abstract:
Metabolism is a unique revealing lens of phenotype because its constituents are non-polymeric small molecules that span an extraordinary range of chemistries and catalytic reactions. Mass-spectrometry-based metabolomics has therefore become the analytical workhorse for probing metabolism. Drawing on case studies from my own research, I will show how tandem-MS workflows enable (i) confident annotation of previously uncharacterized metabolites, (ii) discovery of unexpected enzymatic activities, and (iii) scaling from individual experiments to repository-level analyses that expose biochemical trends across entire taxonomic clades.

Language: English