Innovation Anthology #5: Professor, Computing Sciences and Biological Sciences
First it was the mapping of the Human Genome. Now it’s the Human Metabolome.
Dr. David Wishart and his team at the University of Alberta have just completed the first draft of the
human metabolome.
Using nuclear magnetic resonance technology, they have identified 2500 different chemicals that are essentially the ingredients of life.
DW: What we’ve collected is not just a list of names but actually a list of the chemicals and their relationships to different diseases, the concentrations of these metabolites in different tissues or fluids in the body, and we’ve also associated each of these metabolites with genes and proteins. Often genes and proteins need certain chemicals, co-factors, vitamins to function. Or genes and proteins act on these metabolites to change them into something useful.
This greatly expanded list of metabolites and their relationship to health will soon translate into better and quicker tests for diagnosing or even preventing disease.
And Dr. Wishart also sees future applications for plants and animals. By studying metabolites, scientists can determine how to modify foods to improve our well being. This he says will launch a new era in nutritional studies and bio-products.
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
Guest
David Wishart, PhD,
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, david.wishart@ualberta.ca
Sponsor
Program Date: 2007-01-29