Dissertation

CE-MS for metabolomics: advancing performance and detection sensitivity

The major and ultimate aim of metabolomics is to obtain an answer to a specific biological or clinical question.

Author: Zhang, W.
Date: 31 March 2020
Links: Thesis in Leiden Repository

The major and ultimate aim of metabolomics is to obtain an answer to a specific biological or clinical question. For that, many strategies have been applied in this field, including NMR and MS-based approaches. CE-MS is one of the techniques in this field but remains underappreciated because of issues such as compromised sensitivity and poor reproducibility. In this thesis, we proposed standardized protocols for CE-MS studies using a sheathless interface and applied them in the metabolic analysis of ultra-small biological samples, such as low numbers of HepG2 cells. Another CE-MS technique used in this thesis is the traditional sheath liquid CE-MS, and it was successfully used in the metabolic profiling of plasma samples. We also introduced CE-MS with both interfaces in the field of nanosciences with our efforts in revealing the adsorption characteristics of polar metabolites to the surface of nanomaterials. This work clearly demonstrates that CE-MS can be reliably performed for metabolomics studies with acceptable repeatability. The use of sheathless CE-MS interface enables us to have in-depth profiling for ultra-small samples, and may become a powerful tool in the emerging field of single-cell analysis.