Express Healthcare and Agilent Technologies co-host virtual event on OMICS and its relevance
Experts illuminate how multi-OMICS data has the power and potential to revolutionise healthcare and explain the role of emerging, cutting-edge tools and technologies that are faster, more precise, more intelligent and effective, in enhancing our understanding of these fields
The world continues to advance in its quest to unravel and fathom the complex relationships between genes, proteins and biomolecules. Investigation of various OMICS levels like the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome have led to great actionable insights into the progression of various ailments, classification and subtyping of diseases, new therapeutics methods, personalised medicine, etc.
Therefore, recently, Express Healthcare recently hosted a virtual conference on a very pertinent topic, ‘Omics and its relevance in understanding disease mechanisms’. The event, exclusively sponsored by Agilent Technologies.
The first speaker at the event was Dr Nilanjan Guha, Business Development Manager – Academia and Research, Agilent Technologies, who shared great insights. In his presentation on ‘Introduction to Multi-omics solutions’, he examined the shift from single OMICS approaches to multi-OMICS strategies as the world pursues a more holistic understanding of our biological system. He also spoke on some of the promising tools and technologies for multi-OMICS data analysis and interpretation which are revolutionising how multi-OMICS data is being garnered, analysed and interpreted.
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The next speaker, Dr Gerald Larrouy Maumus, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Microbiology, MRC-Centre Molecular Biology and Infection (CMBI), Imperial College London, UK spoke on next-gen approaches and cutting edge technologies in the field of metabolomics. The topic for his presentation was ‘Deciphering mechanisms of immunometabolism in eukaryotes and drug resistance in bacteria using extracellular flux analysis and 13C stable-isotope tracing.’ He gave a comprehensive overview of cellular bioenergetics and metabolism and shared some information on Agilent’s technologies for LC-MS based metabolomics and flux analysis.
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Though information derived from multi-OMICS can revolutionise healthcare and biology, analysing enormous amounts of data and summarising them effectively for successful outcomes is a tall task. Addressing this issue, the subsequent speaker, Dr Anuj Gupta, Manager – Genomics Field Applications, Agilent Technologies explained how assessing and interpreting data is becoming easier and more efficient with the help technological advancements, in his presentation on “Analysis of high throughput genomic data for meaningful outcome.”
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The next presentation was on ‘Metabolomics and Proteomics Approach for comprehensive understanding of Biological systems: Challenges and Mass-spectrometry based solutions.’ In this session, Saurabh Nagpal, Application Engineer: LCMS, Agilent Technologies elaborated on the role of metabolomics and proteomics in the study of complex biological processes. He also enlarged on the part that mass spectrometry can play in creating and implementing strong metabolomics and proteomics-based strategies.
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Dr Arkasubhra Ghosh, Director, GROW Research Laboratory addressed the next session and presented on the topic, ‘Discovery of novel signalling mechanism driving tumour metabolism in paediatric ocular cancer using multi-OMICS workflow solution.’ He shared details of a very interesting study undertaken to understand the molecular features of retinoblastoma and decode its functional mechanisms with the help of combined pathway analysis of metabolomics and transcriptomics data. His presentation gave a clear indication of the power and potential of multi-Omics data to vanquish several dreaded diseases, including cancer.
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The last session of the event was on ‘Plugging the gaps in OMICS research’. Dr SA Deepak, Application Engineer, Seahorse Products, Agilent Technologies, enlightened the audience on the intricacy of human metabolic pathways and the secrets they could hold. But, as researching on these fields is a very complicated undertaking, he also shared details about Agilent Seahorse XF technology, which could simplify and improve the efficiency of research in these fields.
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The knowledge-sharing presentations were followed by a Q&A session between the participants and the speakers. The questions ranged from various aspects of multi-OMICS and their roles in biology to the advancements in the tools and technologies that are furthering our understanding in these fields.
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The discussions ended on a hopeful note that in times to come, multi-OMICS will galvanise huge transformations in the healthcare sector and help conquer various diseases that plague mankind today.