PNNL

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) biomedical scientist Tom Metz has been elected president of the Metabolomics Association of North America (MANA). He will serve a three-year term.

MANA works to promote the growth and development of the field of metabolomics on the continent. The organization has members throughout Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.

Metabolomics as a scientific discipline seeks to systematically identify and quantify small molecules produced in biological systems. Researchers measure hundreds to thousands of these molecules, called metabolites, in systems ranging from cells and tissues to complex microbiomes. Patterns of metabolites reveal the biochemical activity and metabolic state of a system; these patterns can be used in part as biomarkers for how a biological system is working.

At PNNL, Metz leads a group of scientists that focuses on development and applications of high throughput metabolomics and lipidomics methods to various biological questions. Metz’s research primarily focuses on the study of diseases, such as diabetes and infectious diseases.

Currently, he is the director of the Pacific Northwest Advanced Compound Identification Core within the National Institutes of Health Common Fund Metabolomics Program, co-principal investigator of the Proteomics Laboratory for The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young consortium, and the chief scientist of the PNNL m/q initiative. He is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Oregon State University.