General public
Fats and oils, which are collectively known as lipids, are very important substances in the body. They are largely taken in through the diet but several, like cholesterol, are also made in the body. They are critical components of the membranes that define the cells and the organelles inside them. They are transported around the body in lipoproteins such as LDL and HDL, and stored in adipose tissue as well as in liver, muscle and other tissues. There are thousands of different types of lipids, each of which has an important function. Some are structural, as in the cell membrane, while others are signalling molecules that tell cells in the body how to behave. Others help the immune system and have anti-microbial properties. Moreover, lipids can become oxidized, a process that causes rancidity in foods but in also known to happen in the body under certain conditions. This further alters lipid function and particularly affects the immune system.
Therefore the balance of lipids in the body is very important for health, and an imbalance can lead to disease. For example, high LDL and low HDL is linked to cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes. But this is a very crude view, as LDL and HDL are made of hundreds of different lipids. Scientists now understand that we need to be able to measure the diversity and precise lipid composition in order to have useful markers of health and disease. This is a field called lipidomics, while epi-lipidomics refers to the study of lipids with altered structure, for example caused by oxidation. The overarching goal of EpiLipidNET is to establish a pan-European expert centre to develop, test and standardize methods for measuring lipid and well as to understand their effects and contribution to disease. In addition to providing new information for scientists, we aim to make available useful knowledge for non-specialists on the following topics:
Specialists/researchers
Over the last two decades we have witnessed the emergence and advancement of lipidomics, a new omics approach, which is a field of research that investigates pathways and networks of cellular lipids in biological systems. Lipids are characterized by an extremely high structural diversity, reflecting the wide range of physicochemical properties, enabling them to perform various functions, including the organization of cell and organelle membranes, the regulation of membrane fluidity and curvature, the control of energy metabolism of cells and organisms, as well as mediation in several signalling pathways. According to their different functionalities, it is increasingly evident that specific lipids can serve as biomarkers of disease and could be a potential target for pharmaceutical interventions. It is therefore not surprising that more human diseases are being associated with significant lipidome alterations and, for many, changes in lipid metabolism have been identified as a major risk factor. Indeed, most metabolic disorders, including obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, are closely associated with the reconfiguration of lipid metabolism. In addition, a close association between lipidome changes and the onset and course of the disease has been demonstrated in the treatment of cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
Recent studies have shown that lipidomics, as a large-scale study of diverse molecular lipid species, aims to address the identification, cell and tissue distribution of lipids, as well as associated signalling and metabolic pathways, has a very high potential in clinical research. Reliable lipid markers can accelerate clinical developments in several ways. To provide reliable coverage of different natural lipidomes the development, optimization and standardization of preliminary and analytical workflows, data analysis and reporting solutions for high throughput lipidomics is needed. The combination of modern separation techniques and mass spectrometry instruments capable of high resolution, mass accuracy, sensitivity, and speed has significantly improved accuracy and dynamic range in lipidomics analysis. This offers the possibility of identifying hundreds of lipid species from natural lipidomes using LC-MS/MS analysis. The reliable identification of lipids forms using LC-MS/MS datasets remains one of the main bottlenecks of high-throughput lipidomics, so software tools to support MS data processing must be further developed and applied.
The lipidome is also subject to various enzymatic and non-enzymatic modifications. Modifications of lipids via enzymatic and non-enzymatic modifications including oxidation, nitration, sulfation and halogenation constitute a new level of complexity of the lipidomes (epilipidome) necessary for the regulation of complex biological functions. There are clear examples illustrating the regulatory role of the epilipidome and lipid modifications in directing cell fate and signalling events. Enzymatically oxidized phospholipids are as important regulators of innate immune responses, while non-enzymatic lipid peroxidation could be associated with the induction of ferroptotic cell death as well as the activation of immune responses via pattern recognition and scavenger receptors. However, because of the largely unknown structural diversity and low natural abundance of modified lipids, high-throughput epilipidomics analysis of biological samples remains challenging. Thus (epi)-lipidomics is a fast-developing discipline with a constantly growing number of users, applications and methods, needing a platform for open discussion to ensure community-based standardization, harmonization and integration of available methodological and knowledge base resources.
The overreaching goal of EpiLipidNET is to establish a pan-European expert centre for integrative lipidomics, to facilitate multidisciplinary networking, knowledge building and technology development with a focus on the following areas:
We already have more than 350 participants from a wide variety of different backgrounds: academic (biology, chemistry, biophysics, bioinformatics), clinical and industrial. Moreover, EpiLipidNET collaborates closely with the main lipid-oriented consortia and societies including LIPID MAPS, International Lipidomics Society and Lipid Standards Initiative, Nordic Metabolomics Society, LipidomYstes, and WikiPathways.
We are starting to set in motion the integrated activities described above. Join one of our Working Groups to take part in these activities and contribute to the network. EpiLipidNET is a Network, not a Society, so participating is completely free:
You can attend our meetings (currently virtual meetings online by Zoom) to meet researchers in the field, share information and plan research activities;
You can interact with other research groups in the Network by hosting Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) in your group, or sending your researchers (or yourself) on a STSM to another scientific location in the Network for collaborative research projects, leading to joint publications;
Early career researchers and researchers from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) [add link] can apply for funding to attend European and International conferences and event;
You can contribute to joint dissemination activities, including scientific review articles, protocols and resources, and position statements, as well as non-specialist communication activities (videos, information leaflets and, in the future, live events such as schools trips, researcher nights).
You can read more about EpiLipidNET in our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
CSO Approval Date: 24 March 2020
Start Date: 13 October 2020
End Date: 12 October 2024
EpiLipidNET aims to build and maintain a multidisciplinary pan-European network of researchers, clinicians and enterprises working in the field of lipidomics and epilipidomics to boost a hub of research excellence, advanced knowledge and technology transfer, to promote high level of training for young researchers and facilitate clinical translation.