ECTS credits:  4 ECTS

Course parameters

Language: English

Level of course: PhD

Semester/quarter: 2 days online preparatory course via zoom and 1 weeks (5 working days) as a physical course in October/November from 26 October to 3 November 2023

Capacity limits: 16-20

Expected students total: 16-20                           

Expected students from ANIVET: 8-10

Objectives of the course: The aim of the course is to give an understanding on how to apply mass spectrometry in nutritional and health research to improve the quality of analyses for organic and inorganic elements and gases such as CO₂ and CH₄

Learning outcomes and competences:

After finalizing the course, the students will be able to:

1. Explain the basic principles of mass spectrometry and its application in nutritional and health research and the use of quantitative and explorative techniques
2. Explain the basic principles of mass spectrometry in combination with chromatographic techniques such as Liquid and Gas Chromatography
3. Explain the basic principles of sample preparation for minerals, amino acids, SCFA (short chain fatty acids), climate gases, phenolic compounds, and untargeted metabolomics
4. Explain the basic principles of quantitative and explorative techniques combined with chemometrics 
5. Prepare samples for above mentioned procedures
6. Perform quantification based on standard curve procedures (quantitative techniques) or perform data-processing and visualization (explorative techniques)

Compulsory program

Active participation in the course and writing of the final report. 

Course contents

The course is mixture between lectures and hands-on laboratory work. The course covers the following topics:

• Mass Spectrometry and its application in nutritional and health research (lecture)
• Mass Spectrometry in combination with Liquid and Gas Chromatography (the use of columns for different applications) (lecture)
• Sample preparation techniques for extraction, precipitation and up-concentration of molecules/elements and head-spice injection of gases (lecture)
• Quantitative versus explorative techniques and their applications (lecture)
• Sample preparation for minerals, amino acids, SCFA, climate gases, phenolic compounds, and untargeted metabolomics for analyses on ICP-MS, LC-MS and GC-MS (practical laboratory work, students will be divided into 4 groups depending on analysis of interest)
• Data handling and understanding including visualization, quantitation, processing, and interpretation (practical work in 4 groups)

Participants are expected to deliver 100 working hours: 50 hours including lectures and laboratory work/evening work (preparation for the next day) and 50 hours preparatory including 15 hours of online course, reading books, protocols, videos and articles before the course and written report after the course.

Prerequisites

This course targets PhD students, master students, postdocs and researchers who expect to use mass spectrometry in their research.

Name of course leader  

Natalja P. Nørskov (natalja.norskov@anivet.au.dk)

Internal lecturer: Mette Skou Hedemann (Senior Researcher)

Internal lecturer: Natalja P. Nørskov (Researcher)

External lecturer: Liquid and Gas Chromatography (Specialist from Phenomenex, James Turner (UK))

External lecturer: Valeria Tafintseva from Norwegian University of Live Science will give a lecture on Chemometrics.

Laboratory Technicians: Kasper Vrangstrup Poulsen, Birgit Hørdum Løth, Thomas Rebsdorf and Lis Sidelmann

Literature

Original literature in the form of books, protocols, reviews and research papers from international journals will be available on the course homepage. It is advisable to read the literature and laboratory protocol prior to the course.

Course homepage

Hands-on mass spectrometry for the analyses of biomarkers/metabolites using quantitative and explorative techniques (au.dk)

Course assessment

Participation in the course plus written report (5 pages). The report is assessed as “passed” or “not passed”. Presence at minimum 90 % of the course is required to obtain the course diploma.

Provider

The course is provided by the Dep. of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Aarhus University, AU Foulum.
Foulum is situated 75 km from Aarhus and 15 km from Viborg. Complete address:

Blichers Alle 20

DK-8830 Tjele

Denmark

Special comments on this course

Course participants must pay DKK 1000 for the food during course. The price includes lunch, coffee, fruits, and cakes during the day. Further participants must pay for their own accommodation. Since the accommodation will be in Viborg, which is approximately 15 km away from the University, participants have to buy their own bus tickets.
For further help regarding accommodation please contact Emma Bonde Stanek, e-mail: ebs@anivet.au.dk

Time October/November 2023

Place: Foulum, Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, AU Viborg

Registration: Registration deadline is 24 September 2023. Please register for the course via this link: https://events.au.dk/mpec23/signup