Doctor Manuel Portero-Otin
Better Nutrition for Healthier AgingAgilent aids research on foods that guard against age-related diseasesAgilent is pleased to be assisting Dr. Manuel Portero-Otin of the Department of Experimental Medicine at the University of Lleida in research on the development of high-nutrition foods that guard against age-related diseases. Dr. Portero-Otin's team is using targeted metabolomics methods to evaluate the effects of specific dietary changes on health, and if intelligently designed foods, when combined with a healthy lifestyle, offer a holistic approach to healthier aging. The research is helping to solve two important challenges facing nutritional metabolomics. Firstly, through developing individualized molecular solutions, the variable aging rates (due to genetic background, lifestyle, etc.) of different people can be accounted for. Secondly, progress is being made toward thorough descriptions of whole metabolomes, taking into account the large amount of subtle chemical changes caused by nutritional factors. In meeting these challenges Dr. Portero-Ortin's research team is using the Q-TOF 6500 Series Accurate-Mass Quadrupole Time-of-Flight LC/MS, which offers the lowest detection levels of any high-resolution LC/MS instrument, to analyze the effects of specific ingredients on health. Agilent's powerful Mass Profiler Professional software is also used for statistical analysis as well as METLIN for compound identification. Beyond exceptional accuracy, this approach provides high levels of traceability, reliability, and comprehensive identification of the biochemistry of food ingredients, and could therefore be highly effective for food manufacturers. Simple-to-use software combined with the versatility of - LC/MS could also help scientists more easily develop highly complicated multivariate analyses. This growing area of research presents a number of new challenges and opportunities, which include understanding the integration of metabolomics with body processes, creating common methods that allow comparing data across research groups, and developing less complex, more productive analytical schemes so that metabolomics can be used in large epidemiological studies. Dr. Portero-Ortin's collaboration with Agilent's product specialists is bringing the most advanced analytical instruments to this important area and, in discovering more about the body's short and long-term responses to nutrient intake, helping provide the basis for healthier aging. For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures. |
Manuel Portero-Otin, Ph.D.
Department of Experimental Medicine |
Selected publications
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Lipidomics reveals altered biosynthetic pathways of glycerophospholipids and cell signaling as biomarkers of the polycystic ovary syndrome. Region-specific vulnerability to lipid peroxidation and evidence of neuronal mechanisms for polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis in the healthy adult human central nervous system. Tumour-microenvironmental blood flow determines a metabolomic signature identifying lysophospholipids and resolvin D as biomarkers in endometrial cancer patients. Differential metabolic profiles associated to movement behaviour of stream-resident brown trout (Salmo trutta). A Stress-Resistant Lipidomic Signature Confers Extreme Longevity to Humans. |