A Joint NSF and JST Workshop: Identifying Potential Collaborative Research Opportunities in Metabolomics; Davis, CA

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Intellectual Merit:Metabolomics is the large-scale study of the small molecule component (metabolites) of living organisms. These small molecules in cells represent the consequential end products of gene expression and offer a high-resolution biochemical phenotype of a cell, tissue, and/or organism. Metabolomics is now a proven high-resolution tool that is yielding advanced understanding of primary and secondary metabolism. It is providing critical insight into the molecular and biochemical events that occur during mutualistic and pathogenic plant-microbe interactions, and it is a powerful functional genomics tool for the discovery of novel metabolites and their correlated biosynthetic genes. The specific aims of this proposal are 1) to acquire funds for a workshop that will identify and prioritize key strategic areas where metabolomics offers the greatest opportunity to advance biological knowledge in the areas of energy and environment, and 2) to foster greater collaborative interactions between Japan and US scientists in these priority research areas. To achieve the above goal, a team composed of a diverse group of ~10-15 experts in the field from Japan and from the USA will meet for two days, May 6-7, 2010, at The University of California, Davis. The workshop will focus upon current technical challenges and optimum collaborator opportunities related to plant, algal, and microbial metabolomics. Specific technical challenges to be discussed include defining the Metabolome, metabolite annotation, spatially and temporally resolved sampling, flux?omics?, dynamic range and depth-of-coverage, instrumentation and infrastructure, informatics and databases, standardization, putative national plant, algal, microbial metabolomics facility(s). Collaborative application opportunities will be discussed with regards to bioenergy, environment, functional genomics & gene discovery, secondary metabolism, metabolomics & genome-wide association mapping (plant, algae, microbe), systems biology and metabolic modeling in plant, algal, and microbial metabolomics. A report of the meeting outcomes will be drafted on-site, refined through peer review, and a final report delivered to NSF and JST. Broader Impacts: This meeting will bring together an international team of leading scientists in the field of plant, algal, and microbial metabolomics, and provide a forum to identify and prioritize the current and most critically limiting challenges in the field. The discussions should lead to a consensus opinion for the best scientific approaches to address these challenges and unify the community towards the most effective approaches to solving the challenges. Importantly, the meeting will also foster and encourage collaborative interactions between US and Japanese scientists that will provide combined resources in applying advanced metabolomics technology to the solution of major questions related to plant, microbial, and algal biology. International collaborations that result will lead to training of students and postdocs in state of the art methodology and bring a new generation of scientists to this evolving and important field.