This central service project provides experimental and strategic support to the members of the CRC in the planning and implementation of mass spectrometry (MS)-based advanced omics technologies available in the consortium.

Metabolomics and Fluxomics support

The aim of the Metabolomics and Fluxomics support is to provide our expertise in immunometabolism to our collaborators within the collaborative research centre. Established experimental and computational procedures for the assessment of polar metabolites by mass‑spectrometric measurements are in place and open to all collaborators. Based on these measurements, metabolic profiles are generated and examined for significantly affected metabolites. For the in depth investigation of metabolic pathways, tracing experiments with stable-isotope labeled metabolites are carried out and resulting enrichment patterns which are also known as mass isotopomer distributions (MIDs) are analyzed. As part of the support structure, we will help to put these results into the immunometabolic context and offer further consultation about subsequent experiments.

Lipidomics support

The lipidomics unit provides a comparable analytical service for the unpolar metabolites that are extracted into a solvent phase. General lipidomics of tissues, cells and body fluids are complemented by sensitive tracing experiments using alkyne-labeled lipid precursors. Sample multiplexing and multi-labeling with parallel administration of multiple labeled precursors allow a detailed characterization of lipid metabolic flux.

Proteomics support

The aim of the mass spectrometry-based proteomics support is to provide expertise and technological infrastructure for discovery-driven shotgun proteomics. The unit will provide support for all required steps of the workflow, including planning, implementation, data analyses and interpretation of proteomics experiments. From the second year of the first CRC funding period, after MS-instrumentation has been fully implemented the unit will provide standardized protocols and service for major proteomics applications such as total proteomics, secretomics, interaction- and phosphoproteomics for individual projects within the consortium.