*June 11: Please note that the date and time has been updated*
Abstract:
The natural abundance of heavy stable isotopes (¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁸O, etc.) is of considerable interest in many fields of research, including, more recently, human physiology. This abundance varies between different tissues and metabolites due to isotopic effects in biological processes, such as isotopic discriminations between heavy and light isotopic forms during the activity of enzymes or transporters. Metabolic dysregulation associated with many diseases leads to alterations in metabolic fluxes, resulting in changes in isotopic abundance that can be easily identified using current Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) technologies.
In this seminar, Dr. Tea will present the results obtained from studies on breast cancer patients and mouse models treated with an anti-cancer agent. And discuss the development of analytical methods to explore the potential of generating ‘isotopic’ biomarkers for early detection. Finally, the possibility of predicting isotopic fractionations in biological processes will be discussed.
Speaker: Dr. Illa Tea (Nantes Université)
Speaker bio: Dr Illa Tea is an Associate Professor focused on developing and applying innovative approaches to detect stable isotopes at natural abundance within complex mixtures. While Mass Spectrometry (MS) can routinely determine isotope ratios for major elements in organic matter (such as H, C, N, and O) through the Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) method, it typically provides average values of isotope content. This limitation makes it challenging to identify subtle differences between samples from distinct origins. Therefore, Tea’s research aims to combine separation techniques with IRMS to enable site-specific isotopic fingerprinting in complex mixtures. Specifically, Tea is interested in developing technologies for Position-Specific Isotope Analysis (PSIA) to routinely detect isotopologue biomarkers in urine or plasma samples for cancer diagnostics.
Host: Alexis Gilbert, ELSI.
Date: Tue. 18 Jun. 11:00-12:00 JST
Venue: Mishima Hall, ELSI