University of Colorado Cancer Center Metabolomics Core
Dr. Natalie Serkova
Metabolomics, one of the “omic” sciences in systems biology, is the global assessment and validation of endogenous small-molecule biochemicals (metabolites) within a biologic system.
Metabolite detection and quantification is usually carried out by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) while mass spectrometry (MS) provides another highly sensitive metabolomics technology. The UCCC Metabolomics Core provides all MRS-related metabolomics services. Various metabolic biomarkers, related to glycolysis, mitochondrial citric cycle acid, choline and fatty acid metabolism, were recently reported to play important roles in cancer development and responsiveness to anti-cancer treatment using NMR-based metabolic profiling.
The Metabolomics Core consists of the high-resolution MRS facility, which is located at the 9th Avenue Campus (BRB 041-043). The facility will be moved to Anschutz Medical Campus, Research Complex 2 main floor in November 2008.
The facility is fully equipped for all aspects of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-, 13C-, and 31P-MRS and two-dimensional NMR). We performed expanded quantitative metabolic analysis:
- on cells
- cell extracts
- human and animal tissues and biopsy extracts
- body fluids (including blood, plasma, urine, cerebral and prostatic fluids etc).
Our Services
- Project design and consultation: recommendations and advice on end points to be monitored, budget, suggestions for data analysis.
- Sample Handling and Extraction for Metabolic MRS: Facilities for tissue, body fluids, and cell extraction, sample lyophilization, and sample preparation for NMR. Sample storage is also available.
- MRS based metabolic protocols: Structure determination based on two-dimensional NMR is used for metabolite identification, specially designed 1D-NMR program is used for precise metabolite quantification, various statistical packages are available to perform principle component analysis (PCA), linear regression etc. analysis on metabolic data sets.
- Data set collection is available.
- Access to computational facilities.
- Data analysis and publication preparation/ assistance.
- Training in MR safety (for all users).
- Training in MR operation (for advanced users only)
- Data handling and storage