In February 2021, the African Centre for Gene Technologies (ACGT) and INSERM Toulouse (France) organized a virtual Lipidomics workshop. Lipidomics is a newly emerged discipline that studies cellular lipids on a large scale, based on analytical chemistry principles and technological tools, particularly mass spectrometry.
Following from rapid advances in genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, Lipidomics similarly seeks to elucidate the role of fats and lipids, especially in the context of a range of human diseases, at a high coverage and throughput rate. Due to the range of fatty acid length, conjugation and saturation status, it has been challenging to study all lipids in a single experiment. The event outlined different approaches to analysing different classes of lipids in targeted and untargeted approaches.
The workshop consisted of online lectures, a seminar and interactive discussions. The event was intended to ignite a deeper interest in Lipidomics and add more interesting research avenues to those who are already working on Lipidomics and related disciplines. The workshop covered topics that included: Introduction to Lipidomics, how Lipidomics converges with and complements other “-omics” technologies, analytical flow in global and targeted quantitative Lipidomics, as well as applications of Lipidomics. The latter had a specific focus on inflammation; as highlighted in a research case study, with high development potential, in treating inflammation.
The seminar highlighted that lipids play many essential roles in cellular functions, including cellular barriers, membrane matrices, signalling, and energy depots. As a result, the ACGT is reassured that Lipidomics is a fast-growing field not only in the world, but also in South Africa. The participants of the workshop were from various research institutions spread across South Africa and also included a few delegates from the rest of Africa. Potential international and local collaborative efforts were also evaluated. Plans are being put into place to have similar workshops in future and complementary Lipidomics-related capacity building efforts.
The ACGT would like to thank the INSERM Toulouse team of Dr Justine Bertrand-Michel, Dr Pauline Le Faouder and Dr Cénac Nicolas for facilitating this event. The ACGT and the 35 participants of the workshop thank the delegates for generously donating their time in preparing and in facilitating the talks.
For further information about developments in this field, contact Mr Molati Nonyane, ACGT Liaison Scientist, and visit the MSA website.