Our interdisciplinary research programme at the Institute for Bioanalytical Chemistry is focussed on mass spectrometry, separation techniques and instrument development. The team also conducts applied research in the ‘omics’ sciences of metabolomics and lipidomics, with particular emphasis on innovative, non-invasive techniques for measuring indicators or “biomarkers” of disease as well as nutritional and/or physiological status.
The core expertise of the Chair in Analytical Chemistry is the development of novel methods in biological mass spectrometry, in particular highly automated techniques for qualitative and quantitative measurement of low-molecular substances; e.g., endogenous metabolites, pharmaceutical drugs and metabolite fingerprints of biomarkers.
The research is currently divided into five themes:
- Metabolomics and lipidomics techniques for studying metabolic pathways and biomarkers of disease, with emphasis on rapid biomarker discovery, chemical labelling techniques for metabolite profiling and biomarker discovery in non-invasive sample matrices.
- Proteomics techniques for the characterization of isoprenoid homeostasis and mechanisms of protein prenylation.
- Instrument technology development, with a focus on laser-based mass spectrometry.
- Analytical method development and quatitative mass spectrometry for environmental and clinical applications.
- Ionization mechanism and gas-phase ion chemistry, novel tandem mass spectrometry techniques and structural elucidation.
