We are interested in multidisciplinary life sciences research. The ultimate goal of our research is to integrate experimental and computational approaches for a better understanding of living systems. Our bioanalytical research exploits practical and efficient high-throughput technologies for the analyses of complex mixtures derived from living systems. This will facilitate the development of preventive, predictive, and personalized medicine for specific diseases and will promote health and wellness. We use a number of high-throughput analytical platforms including multidimensional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (MDLC-MS) and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCxGC/TOF-MS) for epitranscriptomics, metabolomics, and lipidomics. Each type of analysis affords limited analyte coverage of molecules present in a patient sample and therefore provides only a partial molecular profile for an individual patient. These diverse analytical data must be integrated with advanced bioinformatics methods for the accurate evaluation of health and detection of disease susceptibility.

Our bioinformatics research aims to develop a comprehensive system that enables the mining of high-throughput data for the identification of molecular networks and ‘systems level’ knowledge assembly. We develop innovative bioinformatics algorithms for molecular identification and quantification. Our data-mining pipeline for omics' provides molecular identification, quantification, pattern recognition, and network information. Diverse data integration and knowledge assembly are another of our bioinformatics research areas. We are developing bioinformatic tools to integrate scientific information extracted from biological databases by achieving a virtual integration of those databases.

Student training is the core of our team. Our philosophy is for everyone in the group to contribute to our overall knowledge and understanding of the biological systems under study. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of our research, we accept that the goals, backgrounds, and interests of students will differ. Depending on the student's interest, s/he can choose to focus on either bioanalytical method development or bioinformatics. However, students are always highly encouraged to interact and collaborate with others within and outside of the group.

Active research support

1.  NIH/NIGMS     2P20GM113226-06            C. McClain (PD)                           06/10/21-03/31/26
The Hepatobiology and Toxicology COBRE
The overarching theme of this grant is to maximize our capability for deciphering the mechanisms and therapy for liver injury, nutrition and gut:liver interactions, and liver:environment/toxin/drug  interactions.
Role: Omics Core Leader

2.  NIH/NIAAA     2P50AA024337-06             C. McClain (PD)                            05/15/21-04/30/26
The Role of Nutrition in the Development/Progression of Alcohol-induced Organ Injury
The overarching theme of this center is to examine the role of nutrition in the development and progression of alcohol-induced organ injury.
Role: Omics Core Leader

3.  NIH/NIAAA      2R01AA023190-06           W. Feng (PI)                                  09/01/20-07/31/25

Mechanisms of Probiotics in Alcoholic Liver Disease
The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that, by activating intestinal AhR-Nrf2 signaling, LGG-derived exosome-like NPs (LDNPs) increase intestinal Reg3 expression, modulate gut microbiota homeostasis and enhance intestinal barrier function, leading to the suppression of ALD.
Role: Co-Investigator

4.  NIH/NIEHS      1P30ES030283-01A1       C. States (PI)                                07/15/20-03/31/25
University of Louisville Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences
The University of Louisville’s (UofL) Center for Integrative Environmental Health Science (CIEHS)  brings together a multidisciplinary group of investigators working together to develop a framework to understand the complexities of and to integrate the interactions between environmental toxicants, life style factors, life stage, genetics and gender and their roles in human health and disease.
Role: Co-Investigator

5.  NIH/NCI           1R37CA234002-01A1       Y. Imbert-Fernandez(PI)               07/09/20-06/30/25
Targeting 6-Phosphofructo-2-Kinase to increase efficacy of CDK4/6 Inhibitors
The objective of this proposal is to characterize the role of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase (PFKFB3) in mediating adaptation or resistance to CDK4/6 inhibition and to define new approaches to increase the efficacy of CDK4/6 inhibitors in order to enable durable responses in stage IV HR+ breast cancer patients.
Role: Co-Investigator

6.    NIH/NIGMS    1R21GM140352-01          S. Kim (PI)                                    09/15/21-08/30/23

MS-based metabolite identification
This research addresses a critical challenge in the compound identification of LC/GC-MS data by developing innovative peak detection and metabolite identification algorithms using advanced statistical and computational approaches.
Role: Sub-award PI

7.    NIH/NCI            1R01CA227874-01        D. Guo (PI)                                  07/01/19-06/30/24
Defining the molecular mechanisms regulating the hexosamine-N-glycosylation pathway in glioblastoma
The objective of this study is to understand glioblastoma (GBM) pathogenesis to provide the foundation for identifying new effective approaches to target GBM.
Role: Sub-award PI