METALLOMICS 201: Short courses

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Short courses

Short courses related to techniques and methods applied for metallomics will be given by distinguised experts in the field. Short courses are free of charge for registerd participants of the METALLOMICS 2011 symposium. However, due to restricted place within the courses preregistration is necessarry.

Short Course 1:
Tanja Schwerdtle, Institute of Food Chemistry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany : Metal species toxicity testing by the use of in vitro models

The aim of this course is to give the participants insight in the currently fast developing field of toxicity testing with a special focus on in vitro models. After a short general introduction in the field of molecular and cellular toxicology the main topics of the course will be:

Cytotoxicity testing: The objective is to give both an overview of methods used in cytotoxicity testing and to discuss their informative value. Furthermore, experimental design questions with respect to choice of the cellular system (species, target cell identification, primary cells versus cell lines) as well as mode and duration of treatment will be addressed (with a special focus on metal species toxicology).
Genotoxicity testing: This part of the course will introduce in vitro genotoxicity testing and highlight advantages and disadvantages of current standardized, industrial used methods (e.g., micronuclei assay, comet assay) regarding metal species toxicity testing. Additionally genotoxicity related biomarkers will be discussed, among others with respect to the meaning and significance of the applied human material (e.g. blood, urine, sputum).
Toxicokinetics testing: The objective is to shortly introduce in vitro toxicokinetics models including endothelial and epithelial barrier and biotransformation models.

Short Course 2:
Maria Montes-Bayon and Jörg Bettmer, University of Oviedo, Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Oviedo, Spain: Mass Spectrometric Tools for Metallomics

The course will deal with the use of Hybrid Techniques for speciation to solve biological problems. We will adress the coupling of HPLC, and Gel Electrophoresis, as powerful separation tools to Plasma-based Mass Analysers (ICP-MS) for screening of elements in biomolecules and quantitative analysis. Additionally, Speciation for Proteomics, integrating MS "molecular" (MALDI-TOF and Electrospray-Q-TOF) and "atomic" (ICP-MS) for the elucidation of species will be also addressed.

Short Course 3:
Gary Hieftje, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA: Time-of-flight mass spectrometry for metallomics

Since its introduction, time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) has demonstrated extensive analytical utility and potential for both molecular and elemental analysis. The acceptance of the technique can be attributed to both the characteristics of TOFMS and the introduction of excellent commercial TOFMS instrumentation. This acceptance is illustrated by the increased the presence of TOFMS systems in laboratories throughout the world. Among the simplest of mass analyzers, TOFMS offers exceptionally high spectral generation rates (typically 20,000 complete mass spectra per second), adequate mass spectral resolving power (1500), high abundance sensitivity, the promise of high ion transmission efficiency, unlimited upper mass range, outstanding mass accuracy, and relatively low cost. Additionally, since each packet of ions is sampled from the ion source at virtually the same instant, ion signals can be ratioed to improve precision for all isotopes and elements simultaneously. These features combine to eliminate spectral skew making TOFMS an ideal mass spectrometer for transient analyses. In this short course, the fundamentals of TOFMS will be reviewed, and instrumental and experimental considerations will be discussed. Applications of TOFMS with various ion sources will be examined, and particular attention will be given to methods that exploit the characteristics of TOFMS to overcome typical experimental difficulties. Moreover, approaches for improving figures of merit will be described and future generations of TOFMS systems will be suggested.

Pre-registration:
Since all short courses will take place Wednesday, June 15, 2011, at the same time (14:30-17:30), participants of the METALLOMICS 2011 can partiticipate only in one short course. Pre-registration for the short course is necessary. Please send an Email with the preferred course number to Short_Courses@metallomics2011.org.

News
Thank you for your participation !

We had a great time with all of you both with respect to your scientific contributions as well as with social interaction.

We hope to see you all again for the METALLOMICS 2013 in Oviedo, Spain. We will inform you at this site about the next symposium as soon as the information becomes available.