NMR as a tool for Human Biofluid Characterisation

Title: NMR as a tool for Human Biofluid Characterisation

Speaker: Dr Beatriz Jiménez (Adelaide University)

Abstract: Over the past three decades, metabolomics, or metabolic profiling, has emerged as a powerful approach for characterising complex biological systems through the measurement of metabolite concentrations. Its applications span diverse fields, including environmental science, food industry, pharmaceutical research and clinical studies. The two main analytical platforms used in metabolomics are Mass Spectrometry (MS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. While MS offers high sensitivity, NMR provides important advantages for clinical studies, including excellent robustness and reproducibility, as well as the ability to analyse biofluids in a non-destructive and inherently quantitatve manner. NMR spectroscopy enables the generation of comprehensive metabolic profiles from a variety of biological matrices, including blood (serum and plasma), urine and issues. These profiles provide objective insights into an individual's metabolic state and have considerable potential to improve disease diagnosis, prognosis and patient stratification. However, the complexity of human biofluid NMR spectra presents significant analytical challenges, particularly when extracting biologically and clinically meaningful information. Large-scale initiatives, such as the National Phenome Centre at Imperial College London, have played a key role in establishing standardised analytical workflows and generating high-quality metabolic profiling datasets. These efforts have also driven the development of new analytical and bioinformatics tools to enhance spectral information, improve metabolite identification and quantification, and facilitate biological interpretation. In this presentation, I will showcase several tools and methodologies we have developed to improve the extraction, analysis and interpretation of metabolic information from NMR spectra. Their potential for clinical research will be illustrated through case studies in sepsis, dementia and pulmonary hypertension, demonstrating how NMR-based metabolic profiling of biofluids can provide insights into the  biochemical processes underlying disease and support clinical decision-making.

Biography: I am a chemist by training, specialising in the application of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to clinical metabolic profiling and protein structure elucidation. My expertise encompasses paramagnetic NMR, pulse sequence development, the investigation of protein structure and dynamics, and the development of NMR-based methods for biofluid characterisation. I joined the University of Adelaide (now Adelaide University) in December 2024, with the aim of expanding the application of NMR across chemistry and establishing a research programme in clinical metabolic profiling. Prior to this, I spent 13 years at Imperial College London, where I led the NMR platform at the National Phenome Centre (NPC) and oversaw the divisional NMR facility. This position provided me with the opportunity to work closely with clinicians and gain first-hand insight into the challenges of disease diagnosis and management, as well as the need for objective, robust and reliable measures of health status. My research during this period focused primarily on advancing NMR methodologies and analytical workflows for the characterisation of clinical samples and the investigation of metabolic signatures associated  with human health and disease.