Environmental Metabolomics + Galaxy

A new UK-China collaboration in environmental metabolomics between the University of Birmingham, BGI and GigaScience has received funding from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The first metabolomics project will send a developer from the University of Birmingham’s School of Biosciences, to Hong Kong to work with GigaScience personnel on extending Galaxy for use in metabolomics data analyses.

"Metabolomics involves the detection and quantification of small molecules (metabolites) in living organisms and can provide an indication of their cellular condition and health. The toxicological responses of organisms to pollutants can be studied using environmental metabolomics, enabling researchers to discover diagnostic markers for monitoring and risk assessment of our environment. Research at Birmingham focuses extensively on the metabolic responses of the freshwater model organism, Daphnia, to both pollutants and engineered nanomaterials."

See the official announcement for more details.

Peter Li
GigaScience