Zamboni, Nicola, Dr.

Decades of research on metabolism, and more recently genome-based reconstructions, have produced detailed metabolic maps, which - for many organisms - include several hundreds of different intermediates and connecting enzymatic reactions. Despite this detailed knowledge on network topology, our capacity to predict metabolic responses to environmental stimuli or genetic perturbations is still very limited. The major burden is the lack of direct data on in vivo network operation to infer the regulatory mechanisms governing metabolic activity.

To overcome this informational gap, our lab researches novel concepts and tools that monitors state and activity of metabolic networks. In particular, we strive to develop generally applicable, data-driven approaches that can cope with the complexity of higher cells or dynamic systems. The primary technologies used in the lab are mass spectrometry and fluorescent microscopy. In addition, we code novel software for data processing and mining.

Representative references:

• Zamboni N. ¹³C metabolic flux analysis in complex systems, Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2011;22:103-108.
• Zamboni N, Sauer U, Novel biological insights through metabolomics and ¹³C-flux analysis, Curr Opin Microbiol 2009;12:553-8
• Sauer U, Heinemann M, Zamboni N, Getting close to the whole picture, Science 2007; 316:550-551