Probing cellular responses to environmental and metabolic stress.

细胞释放的挥发性代谢物可以被测量以灵敏地诊断个体生物体中的功能变化（例如某些疾病状态），但它们还没有被用于探测细胞功能。我们最近开发了一种气相色谱-质谱联用方法，使我们能够准确和灵敏地定量挥发性代谢产物从少量的培养细胞。这种方法可以预测细胞类型和细胞环境的变化。因此，这种分析方法有助于回答有关细胞功能的关键问题。氧化状态影响长期健康，并有助于衰老和衰老。线粒体功能的缺陷会产生活性氧（ROS），这会损害细胞，并消耗细胞功能所必需的抗氧化辅助因子。然而，我们还不知道这些代谢物的变化是否可以在挥发组中检测到。这位博士将使用尖端的分析方法来探索ROS的常备防御，提供对细胞健康的短期和长期影响的见解。该项目将集中在三个模式生物（果蝇，培养的哺乳动物细胞和新鲜组织），从而使学生接触到一系列最先进的模型和方法。学生将接受全面的研究生培训，由在该领域具有强大研究背景的多学科导师团队提供支持。

Volatile metabolites released by cells can be measured to sensitively diagnosefunctional changes (e.g. certain disease states) in individual organisms but theyhave not yet been used to probe cellular function. We have recently developeda gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method that allows us to accuratelyand sensitively quantify volatile metabolites from a small number of culturedcells. This method can predict cell type and changes in cellular environment.This analytical approach therefore lends itself to answering critical questionsabout cell function.Oxidative status impacts long term health and contributes to ageing andsenescence. Defects in mitochondrial function generate reactive oxygenatedspecies (ROS), which are damaging to cells, and deplete anti-oxidant co-factorsessential for cell function. However, we do not yet know whether changes inthese metabolites can be detected in the volatilome.This PhD will use cutting edge analytical approaches to explore standingdefences to ROS, providing insight into short-term and long-term effects on cellhealth. The project will focus on three model organisms (Drosophila, culturedmammalian cells, and fresh tissue) and will thus expose the student to a rangeof state-of-the-art models and methods. The student will receive thoroughpostgraduate training supported by a multidisciplinary team of supervisors withstrong research backgrounds in this area.