Molecular Imaging and Metabolomics Group

Fundación investigación hospital clínico universitario valencia

Bruker AVANCE 600 spectrometer in the Molecular Imaging and Metabolomics Lab at  FIHCUV/UCIM

Introduction

 

 

The Molecular Imaging and Metabolomics Group (UIMM) of Fundación de Investigación del Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia (FIHCUV) focus its research in the finding of biomarkers and risk factors in different diseases and in the development of tolos and methodologies for their application in the clinical routine. The group is involved in different clinical research projects in collaboration with groups and departments of the Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia searching for metabolomic markers for diagnosis, classification and/or follow up of different disease (brain tumors, Breast cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, liver disease, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease,  diabetes, etc).

On top of their well known applications in medical imaging, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is practically the only analysis technique allowing identification of molecular compounds, both individually and in mixtures. Additionally, it is possible to quantify the different molecular components of a mixture by NMR spectroscopy. This quantification may be absolute or relative by measuring the ratios between the signals of the different mixture components.

The Molecular Imaging and Metabolomics Lab (LABIMM), shared between Fundación de Investigación del Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia and Unidad Central de Investigación en Medicina of the Universitat de Valencia, was born in 2007 for the development of research in the area of Biomedicine and Traslational Research in Medicine by the determination of metabolic and molecular profiles in specific locations in biomedical samples, mainly biopsies and biofluids. In this context, the UIMM Research Group was born.

The main component of the lab is an NMR spectrometer of 14.1 Tesla equipped with 4 possible probes allowing the acquisition of NMR spectra in a wide variety of samples including biofluids, biopsies, tissues and cell cultures. This instrument is a fundamental element for the development of Metabolomic applications with special focus in their biomedical aspects. Some of the available probes allow working with very small sample sizes (10 micrograms of tissue or 10 microliters of liquid). On the other hand, the spectrometer counts with a microimaging probe with 3 different coils for 3 different samples sizes (diameters of 10, 5 and 2 mm) which provide MR images  in small samples with high resolution and molecular information.