This is a four day interdisciplinary workshop on metabolomics at the University of Florida. It will involve three days will be classroom instruction and one day of seminars for up to 40 students. The design of the program is outstanding from an instructional perspective and in terms of the quality of outside speakers. Importantly, a fine recruitment plan is being implemented and this includes fellowships for two minority participants.
The workshop will provide instruction of the basics of NMR, mass spectrometry, chromatography, and statistics/informatics. The final day will be a series of seminars from prominent researchers to illustrate the frontiers and important applications of metabolomics. They have recruited an outstanding group of lecturers from around the world and have started to advertise broadly for students from United States.
Objectives of the workshop are 1. Introduce students to the analytical and statistical skills required for metabolomic studies 2. Identify the major challenges and opportunities in metabolomics for the next several years 3. Introduce basic science and clinical investigators to the emerging field of metabolomics Highlights: -Cutting-edge topic, metabolomics, will be made accessible to a broad cross-section of academia from undergrads to faculty -Top international experts invited to participate and give instruction/seminars -Great recruitment and outreach plan by a PI who has a great track-record in this regard -NSF is supporting about half-the other half of the cost will come from institutional (University) and private sources (Metabolomics companies)
Broader Impacts:
The broader impacts are excellent: the recruitment plan clearly emphasizes participation of women and underrepresented minorities. The PI has on-going collaborations with two minority-serving institutions and will bring a faculty member and at least one student from these institutions. Importantly, the data and analysis software from the workshop can be utilized in subsequent teaching settings at these institutions.
Metabolomics is a growing interdisciplinary field that aims to measure and characterize small molecules (metabolites) in living organisms. The information obtained in a metabolomics study is complementary to that obtained in genomics studies, but it is also very sensitive to environmental, developmental, and physiological conditions of the organism. Metabolomics is an important tool in "biomarker" discovery, which can provide diagnostic information on disease, treatment, or other biological condition. The metabolomics workshop at the University of Florida aimed to teach 41 students the basic tools of the emerging field of metabolomics. The workshop had 41 registered participants and 15 invited lecturers/speakers. The participants ranged from technicians and students to full professors and included 20 women. Two participants were given minority scholarships of $500 each that were provided by Bruker NMR. Participants were from 4 different countries, including Peru, United Arab Emirates, and the USA. 28 participants were from the University of Florida, 5 were from Florida State University, 2 from City University of New York, 1 from Princeton University, 1 from Claflin University, 1 from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1 from University of Toronto, 1 from the USDA, and 1 from American University of Sharjah. The lecturers were from the USA, Switzerland, Canada, and England, and all were recognized experts in their fields. The workshop was a great success, and many participants have requested similar workshops in the future.
