Characterising changes in the lipidome and metabolome of mammalian cancer cells as a consequence of pharmacological induced stress

Characterising changes in the lipidome and metabolome of mammalian cells as a consequence of pharmacological induced stress affords new insight into biochemical processes associated with disease progression and the treatment thereof. Many diseases are linked with abnormal lipid metabolism and cancer in particular is highly implicated, with enhanced lipogenesis being one of the most important hallmarks of cancer cells.

The project will combine a number of bioanalytical techniques to provide a multi-dimensional approach to the study of cellular metabolites and lipids in cancer cell treatment and resistance. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) imaging spectrometer in the Gardner group of The University of Manchester will allow biochemical changes within drug treated cells to be imaged at cellular resolution.

Time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is a powerful surface analysis technique and a novel tool for probing the surface of biological materials. ToF-SIMS will be carried out on dedicated instrumentation in the Lockyer group at The University of Manchester.

ToF-SIMS and LC-MS/GC-MS spectral data will be compared and contrasted to further explore the complementary possibilities of these techniques. Multivariate methods of data analysis will assist in data reduction and interpretation for the large and novel data sets that will be acquired and image registration techniques will be employed to overlay data to provide added insight into localised biochemical pathways in response to stress and disease.

Supervisory Team:
Dr Joanna Denbigh, University of Salford (80%); Professor Peter Gardner, University of Manchester (10%)* and Dr Nick Lockyer, University of Manchester (10%)*

* This project benefits from access to state of the art analytical instrumentation within The Manchester Institute of Biotechnology at The University of Manchester.

Further details:
Cell culture and laboratory work will be carried out in the new Translational Medicine facilities at the University of Salford.

This project benefits from access to state of the art analytical instrumentation within The Manchester Institute of Biotechnology at The University of Manchester (http://www.mib.ac.uk)

There will be the opportunity to present your work at international conferences.

Within this project, there is also the potential to carry out research using Synchrotron Infrared Spectroscopy at Diamond Light Source in Oxford, UK.