Metabolomics studies the small organic molecules, also known as metabolites, that occur in organisms. The collection of these metabolites is called the metabolome. In our group we use state-of-the-art analytical platforms (LC-MS/MS, UPLC-HR-qTOFMS, LCxLC-HR-qTOFMS, UPLC-HR-timsTOF, GC-MS) to study environmental metabolomics in relationship to chemical exposure.
Metabolomics studies the small organic molecules, also known as metabolites, that occur in organisms. The collection of these metabolites is called the metabolome. In our group we use state-of-the-art analytical platforms (LC-MS/MS, UPLC-HR-qTOFMS, LCxLC-HR-qTOFMS, UPLC-HR-timsTOF, GC-MS) to study environmental metabolomics in relationship to chemical exposure.
Cell models (e.g. HepaRG, H295) and organisms (e.g. zebrafish, snails, springtails) are used to study the effects of chemicals on various molecular pathways (e.g. neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption), using untargeted and targeted (e.g. steroids, neurotransmitters, TCA) metabolomics approaches. Thousands of different metabolites are simultaneously studied and link these to the function of organism’s or cell (e.g. oxidative stress, endocrine, reproductive, behaviour status). One of the main drives is to anchor the metabolite profiles to organism’s functioning, phenotypical changes, health or behaviour changes due to the chemical exposure. Furthermore, we developing lipidomic approaches to study various lipid classes of lipids (e.g. fatty acids, PC, PE, PI, PG, PA, LPC, LPE, TAG, DAG, MAG, etc.).
We set-up a pipeline for imaging mass spectrometry (IMS), which is a powerful analytical technique to visualize the spatial distribution of molecules (metabolites) within biological tissues, using high resolution mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF, and AP-MALDI-QToF). We are using IMS for mapping the spatial distribution of lipids and metabolites directly on tissue samples of for instance rodent brains and zebrafish which are exposed to environmental pollutants. This provides unique insights into molecular biology at the cellular and tissue level and provides new insights into the mechanism of toxicity of environmental pollutants such as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
NexED (Pim Leonards, Lisa Baumann, Timo Hamers)
“Network for Cross-disciplinary assessment of Endocrine Disrupting compounds”
ENDPoiNTs (Pim Leonards, Eva Sugeng)
"Novel Testing Strategies for Endocrine Disruptors in the Context of Developmental NeuroToxicity”
Repromando (Pim Leonards)
" Reproductive impairment from exposure to complex chemical mixture relevant to human and dog”
PRORISK (Pim Leonards, Marja Lamoree)
"Best chemical risk assessment professionals for maximum ecosystem services benefit”