Understanding Human Diseases Through Metabolomics: Interactions Among the Genome, Proteome, Gut Microbiome and Nutrition

Metabolomics is the comprehensive study of the metabolome, the repertoire of biochemicals present in cells, tissues, and body fluids. The study of metabolism at the global or "-omics" level is a rapidly growing field that has the potential to have a profound impact upon medical practice. At the center of metabolomics, is the concept that a person's metabolic state provides a close representation of that individual's overall health status. This metabolic state reflects what has been encoded by the genome, and modified by diet, environmental factors, the gut microbiome among other influences. The metabolic profile provides a quantifiable readout of biochemical state from normal physiology to diverse pathophysiologies in a manner that is often not obvious from gene expression analyses. In this Gordon Conference series, we highlight state of the art metabolomics technologies and their applications to the study of human health and disease. We will cover most recent developments in the field covering applications of metabolomics for deeper understanding of disease mechanisms, disease heterogeneity and disease progression; variation in treatment outcomes and enablement of precision medicine approaches; connections between metabolome, proteome and genome and atlases being created; effects of exposome, diet and gut microbiome on human metabolome and health. We will highlight large consortia initiatives which enable epidemiology and clinical studies, functional genomics, nutrigenomics, pharmaceutical applications including toxicology studies, systems pharmacology, environmental exposures effects on health (exposome) and beyond. We invite established as well as early career members to attend this meeting from academia industry and regulatory agencies.