Lipids are next in line for “omics”

Computer simulation of lipids. Image courtesy ANL.

The work is expected to revolutionise understanding of the complex networks of interactions in functioning cells and how lipids, together with genes, proteins and other entities, determine cellular functions in health and disease.

Lipids are central to the regulation and control of cellular processes, acting as basic building units for membranes, the substrates for the vast majority of cellular functions.

Recent developments in lipid mass spectrometry have set the scene for a completely new way to understand the composition of membranes, cells and tissues in space and time by allowing the precise identification and quantification of alterations of the total lipid profile after specific perturbations. In combination with advanced proteome and transcriptome analysis tools and novel imaging techniques using RNA interference, it is now possible to unravel the complex network between lipids, genes and proteins in an integrated lipidomics approach.

LipidomicNet views lipid droplets (LD) as dynamic organelles which change in composition, metabolism and regulation at different times and locations. Lipids are stored in multiple cells and tissues, leading to differentiation of multiple organs. They are responsible for creating fatty liver, obesity, white muscle and macrophage foam cells, which are all hallmarks of energy overload diseases.

LDs also play a crucial role in HCV infection, a leading cause of liver disease that will continue to be a major health burden for the foreseeable future.

The project will exploit recent advances in lipidomics technology to establish high-throughput methods to define drugable targets and novel biomarkers related to LD and protein species, their interaction and regulation during assembly, disassembly and storage.

The research groups will study lipid–protein interactions and investigate the dynamics of fat deposition and release in relevant cells as a hallmark of energy overload diseases that have a major health care impact in Europe.

The researchers will collaborate with the US NIH initiative LIPID MAPS and the Japanese Lipidbank.

LipidomicNet involves a private public partnership to support the translation of LipidomicNet intellectual property into new technologies and products. Along with 21 academic groups, five SMEs – BIOBASE, ISB, ZORA Biosciences, Integromics and Protagen – have been selected as industrial partners.