All posts by Miriam

SeRMN contribution to the 32nd AETE (European Embryo Transfer Association) Meeting

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The 32nd European Embryo Transfer Association Meeting of 2016 was held in Barcelona (from the 9th to the 10th of September).

We presentented the poster:

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of goat follicular fluid shows different metabolic profiles among follicle size and female age” of S. Soto, M. Pérez-Trujillo, M.G. Catalá, M. Roura, D. Izquierdo, T. Parella, M.T. Paramio.

Abstract: Oocytes recovered from prepubertal goats are very heterogeneous in growth and grade of atresia which make them unpredictable for IVEP programs. We have observed that oocytes from prepubertal goats obtained from >3 mm follicles develop up to blastocyst stage at a similar percentage than oocytes from adult goats (18% vs 21%), suggesting that the follicle development and the follicular fluid (FF) content are more relevant to oocyte competence than the age of the donor. The aim of this study is to characterize the FF metabolomic profile from different follicular environments through a high-resolution 1H NMR-based metabolomic study. Samples of adult (n=40) and prepubertal (n=16) FF where collected by laparoscopic ovum pick-up (LOPU) and by aspiration of slaughterhouse ovaries, respectively. FF from small (< 3 mm) and large (> 3 mm) diameter follicles where pooled for each female. Multivariate ordination principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to detect patterns of sample ordination in the metabolomes. The unsupervised method clearly differed between the FF metabolomes of large and small follicles of prepubers and between the FF of preadolescent and adult individuals.

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Figure. a) PCA scores plot (PC1-PC2) from 1H NMR spectral data of follicular fluid samples of preadolescent (n=16; blue dots) and adult (n=40; black dots) goats. b) PCA heat map loadings plot (PC1-PC2) with some discriminant variables assigned.

Chloroperoxidase-catalyzed amino alcohol oxidation: Substrate specificity and novel strategy for the synthesis of N-Cbz-3-aminopropanal

S00329592“Chloroperoxidase-catalyzed amino alcohol oxidation: Substrate specificity and novel strategy for the synthesis of N-Cbz-3-aminopropanal” by G. Masdeu,  M. Pérez-Trujillo, J. López-Santín and Gregorio Álvaro. Process Biochemistry 2016; DOI:10.1016/j.procbio.2016.05.022

The ability of chloroperoxidase (CPO) to catalyze amino alcohol oxidations was investigated. The oxidations of compounds with different configurations with respect to the amine position towards hydroxyl – using H2O2 and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BuOOH) – were analyzed in terms of the initial reaction rate, substrate conversion, and CPO operational stability. Continue reading Chloroperoxidase-catalyzed amino alcohol oxidation: Substrate specificity and novel strategy for the synthesis of N-Cbz-3-aminopropanal

Visiting PhD Student Yaoyao Wang

Blog2Today we are saying goodbye to our dear Yaoyao, though we hope to see her very soon again.

Yaoyao is currently finishing her PhD on metabonomics applied to clinical biomarkers in the Legido-Quigley Lab at King’s College London (KCL).

She has been visiting us for the last two months, during which we have been working together in two metabonomics projects related to drug misuse biomarkers and chiral metabonomics. It has been a great pleasure for us to spend this time with her and continue with this collaboration from now on.

Seminar: Biomarker and metabolomics, a novel approach to detect drug misuse

Yaoyao Wang, visiting PhD student from King’s College London, will be giving a talk on  December the 18th at 10:00 h in the SeRMN. Her talk is entitled “Biomarker and metabolomics: a novel approach to detect drug misuse”.

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Yaoyao is from Clinical Biomarkers Lab of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London (KCL). Her PhD project focuses on developing metabolomics approach to identify biomarkers for drug misuse through the analysis of human biofluids samples and the development of data treatment methods, using R (XCMS) and other bioinformatics tools. She has been collaborating intensively with the Drug Control Centre of KCL using LC-MS.

Her talk will include the metabolomics biomarker discovery of low dose salbutamol in urine collected for anti-doping tests and preliminary longitudinal metabolomics study of “date-rape” drug GHB, as well as a glance of the other on-going projects in Clinical Biomarkers Lab.

All interested people are welcome to attend this seminar.

NMR-Aided Differentiation of Enantiomers: Signal Enantioresolution

15ACA“NMR-Aided Differentiation of Enantiomers: Signal Enantioresolution” by Míriam Pérez-Trujillo, Teodor Parella and Lars T. Kuhn. Analytica Chimica Acta, 2015. DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2015.02.069

NMR-aided enantiodiscrimination using chiral auxiliaries (CAs) is a recognized method for differentiating enantiomers and for measuring enantiomeric ratios (er). Up to the present, the study, optimization, and comparison of such methods have been performed based on the enantiodifferentiation of NMR signals via analysing non-equivalent chemical-shift values (ΔΔδ) of the diastereoisomeric species formed. However, a poor and non-reliable comparison of results is often obtained via the analysis of ΔΔδ exclusively. In here, the concept of enantioresolution of an individual NMR signal and its importance for NMR-aided enantiodifferentiation studies is introduced and discussed. Continue reading NMR-Aided Differentiation of Enantiomers: Signal Enantioresolution

Diversity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in native and invasive Senecio pterophorus (Asteraceae): Implications for toxicity

14Phytochemistry“Diversity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in native and invasive Senecio pterophorus (Asteraceae): Implications for toxicity” by Eva Castells, Patrick P.J. Mulder  and Miriam Perez-Trujillo. Phytochemistry (2014) 108:137-146. DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2014.09.006

Changes in plant chemical defenses after invasion could have consequences on the invaded ecosystems by modifying the interactions between plants and herbivores and facilitating invasion success. However, no comprehensive biogeographical studies have yet determined the phenotypic levels of plant chemical defenses, as consumed by local herbivores, covering large distributional areas of a species. Continue reading Diversity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in native and invasive Senecio pterophorus (Asteraceae): Implications for toxicity

Simultaneous 1H and 13C NMR enantiodifferentiation from highly-resolved pure shift HSQC spectra

CoverIssue“Simultaneous 1H and 13C NMR enantiodifferentiation from highly-resolved pure shift HSQC spectra” by Miriam Pérez-Trujillo, Laura Castañar, Eva Monteagudo, Lars T. Kuhn, Pau Nolis, Albert Virgili, R. Thomas Williamson and Teodor Parella. Chemical Communications  50:10214-10217 (2014). DOI: 10.1039/C4CC04077E

NMR-aided discrimination of enantiomers using chiral solvating agents (CSAs) is a well established method of enantiodifferentiation and measurement of enantiomeric ratios (er). The analysis is traditionally performed by observing chemical shift differences (ΔΔδ) in 1H signals by conventional 1D 1H NMR spectra. However, low ΔΔδ values and signal overlap caused by complex multiplets lead to the lack of spectral signal dispersion that preclude a straightforward analysis. Continue reading Simultaneous 1H and 13C NMR enantiodifferentiation from highly-resolved pure shift HSQC spectra

Enantiodifferentiation through 13C NMR Spectroscopy and CSAs

 13ac10887(85)13C NMR spectroscopy for the differentiation of enantiomers using chiral solvating agents” Míriam Pérez-Trujillo, Eva Monteagudo and Teodor Parella. Analytical Chemistry, 2013, 85 (22), pp 10887–10894. DOI: 10.1021/ac402580j

The utility of 13C NMR spectroscopy for the differentiation of enantiomers using chiral solvating agents (CSA) is stated. Three examples involving the enantiodifferentiation of a drug, a metabolite and a reactant in aqueous and organic solutions have been chosen to show it. Continue reading Enantiodifferentiation through 13C NMR Spectroscopy and CSAs

NMR-based Protocol for Ecometabolomics

13MEE“Ecometabolomics: Optimized NMR-based method” by Albert Rivas-Ubach, Miriam Pérez-Trujillo, Jordi Sardans, Albert Gargallo-Garriga, Teodor Parella, Josep Peñuelas. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, February 2013. DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.12028

Metabolomics is allowing great advances in biological sciences and in particular Ecometabolomics (metabolomic approach for ecological studies). Ecometabolomics is a powerful tool that allows identifying changes in the metabolome of individuals of the same species associated to environmental changes, detecting and identifying biological markers. Continue reading NMR-based Protocol for Ecometabolomics

Tuberculosis mycobacterium and microscopic cords formation. Related to their virulence

“Cyclopropanation of α-mycolic acids is not required for cording in non-tuberculous mycobacteria” Cecilia Brambilla, Alejandro Sánchez-Chardi, Míriam Pérez-Trujillo, Esther Julián, Marina Luquin.  Microbiology, March 2012. DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.057919-0

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis are the principal agents responsible for human tuberculosis and tuberculosis in domestic and wild animals. Both form microscopic cords, a phenotypic characteristic that has been related to their virulence. The compounds responsible for cording are unknown, but a recent work has shown that cording could be related to the fine structure of α-mycolic acids. Continue reading Tuberculosis mycobacterium and microscopic cords formation. Related to their virulence