Metabolomics and Bioinformatics Unit

The Metabolomics and Bioinformatics Unit provides services to all areas of the center in research involving both metabolomics programs of study and bioinformatics analysis.

Metabolomics, within the omics sciences, studies the metabolome and its changes in response to external stimuli such as disease, diet and environmental conditions. Two approaches can be distinguished: targeted metabolomics, which quantifies specific metabolites, and non-targeted metabolomics, which seeks to determine the overall metabolic profile of a sample and how it is affected by external changes. This allows the discovery of new biomarkers and a better understanding of the metabolic pathways involved. The two approaches are not mutually exclusive; initially, a non-targeted metabolomics analysis can be performed to identify the metabolites of interest. Once these metabolites have been established, a targeted approach can be performed to quantify them.

Bioinformatics is essential for managing and analyzing large volumes of biological data generated by technologies such as sequencing or mass spectrometry, facilitating the identification, annotation and integration of data from various omics sciences (genomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics and metabolomics). It allows modeling biological processes, visualizing complex data and transforming these data into useful knowledge, using multivariate statistical tools such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Partial Least Squares Regression-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA), Random Forest and Heatmaps, among others.

Ana Romo Hualde
manager of the Unit.

Dr. in Chemical Sciences

 David Muñoz Prieto.Technician.

graduate in Chemical Sciences

→ HPLC - TOF: HPLC 1200 coupled to TOF 6220 Accurate -Mass LC/MS mass detector.

→ UPLC - Qtrap 5500: Acquity H-Class UPLC (Waters) coupled to QTRAP 5500 mass detector (Sciex).

→ microBIOMICS: Metabolomic study related to microbiota in various types of biological samples.

→ EHGNA: Non-targeted metabolomic study in serum in relation to fatty liver

→ PREDISMET: Non-targeted metabolomics study in culture medium of various strains

→ LIKIDI: Untargeted serum metabolomics study in humans

→ BIOPRO: Non-targeted metabolomic study in rat serum on polyphenol-rich extract.

→ NUTRICIA: Non-targeted metabolomic study in plasma at the beginning and end of the intervention in humans. Lipidomics study.

→ CIBENA pumpkin: Non-directed metabolomics study of in vitro fermentation processes.

→ BIOTAGUT: Non-targeted metabolomic study in faeces at the beginning and end of intervention in humans, mice and in vitro fermentative processes.

→ miRNABIOTA: Untargeted serum metabolomics study in humans before and after nutritional intervention.

→ NUTRAGEN: Non-targeted metabolomic study in rat serum on various plant extracts.

→ NUTRIGENIO: Non-targeted metabolomic study in plasma at the beginning and end of the intervention in humans.

→ OBEBACS: Non-targeted metabolomic study in rat serum on various plant extracts.

→ SIMBIOTPLUS: Untargeted metabolomics study carried out on feedstuffs