Education and Training

Ph.D.: University of Louisville, Analytical Chemistry
Postdoctoral Fellowship: University of Louisville, Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics

Mission Statement

We help investigators succeed by providing mass spectrometry-based services, technical expertise, education, and the development of new bioanalytical approaches.

Research Goals

To establish a state-of-the-art shared equipment mass spectrometry facility and develop comprehensive methodologies for the analysis of small molecules and their metabolites.

Research Interests

Discovery, identification, and profiling of metabolites of reactive xenobiotics in urine

• Dr. Lorkiewicz and his lab have supported the efforts of multiple investigators by developing applicable, targeted methods to characterize metabolites of reactive electrophiles and xenobiotics in urine.
• With the recent acquisition of a high-resolution Waters Synapt XS LC-MS system (S10 OD026840), Dr. Lorkiewicz's efforts have shifted towards untargeted workflows to characterize a more significant portion of the exposome.
• His approach focuses on profiling specific groups of xenobiotic metabolites, including mercapturic acids and other metabolic transformation products, based on our extensive knowledge of transformation pathways.
• The latest work includes two UPLC-QTOF MSE DIA-based workflows for urinary mercapturome profiling and a platform for discovering biomarkers of exposure to biogenic volatile compounds (BVOCs) in urine.

Development and implementation of workflows for Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics (SIRM)

• SIRM approach allows for effective pathway tracing and elucidation by following the fate of isotopically labeled metabolites.
• Dr. Lorkiewicz's work has focused on developing appropriate frameworks to analyze, visualize and interpret SIRM data. He recently standardized the UPLC-HRMS SIRM analysis platform for in-vivo [¹³C₆]-glucose tracing in mice.
• He also leveraged SIRM to provide in-vivo evidence of exposures to heavy atom-labeled xenobiotics by measuring their downstream metabolites in the urine.

Instrumental analysis and measurement of biomarkers of tobacco exposure

• Dr. Lorkiewicz received funding for two human pilot studies where he measured volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and tobacco alkaloids (TAs) metabolites in the urine after exposure to different tobacco products.
• He established robust, high-throughput LC-MS/MS methods for detecting and quantifying urinary metabolites of VOCs and TAs and free biogenic monoamines and their metabolites in urine.
• Dr. Lorkiewicz's research efforts helped inform the design of the human tobacco study – CITU 2.0.
• Current work focuses on developing additional high-throughput LC-MS/MS targeted assays (metabolites, lipids, bile acids, short-chain fatty acids, vitamins, free carbonyls etc.)

Featured Publications

Find all papers and citations via Google Scholar

• Xie Z, Chen JY, Gao H, Keith RJ, Bhatnagar A, Lorkiewicz P, Srivastava S. Global Profiling of Urinary Mercapturic Acids Using Integrated Library-Guided Analysis. Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Jul 25;57(29):10563-10573. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c09554. Epub 2023 Jul 11. PMID: 37432892.
• Fan TW, Winnike J, Al-Attar A, Belshoff AC, Lorkiewicz PK, Tan JL, Wu M, Higashi RM, Lane AN. Differential Inhibition of Anaplerotic Pyruvate Carboxylation and Glutaminolysis-Fueled Anabolism Underlies Distinct Toxicity of Selenium Agents in Human Lung Cancer. Metabolites. 2023 Jun 21;13(7):774. doi: 10.3390/metabo13070774. PMID: 37512481; PMCID: PMC10383978.
• Tevis DS, Flores SR, Kenwood BM, Bhandari D, Jacob P 3rd, Liu J, Lorkiewicz PK, Conklin DJ, Hecht SS, Goniewicz ML, Blount BC, De Jesús VR. Corrigendum to "Harmonization of acronyms for volatile organic compound metabolites using a standardized naming system" [Int. J. Hygiene Environ. Health 235 (2021) 113749]. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2023 Jan;247:114030. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2022.114030. Epub 2022 Sep 7. Erratum for: Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2021 Jun;235:113749. PMID: 36088239.
• Calderin EP, Zheng JJ, Boyd NL, McNally L, Audam TN, Lorkiewicz P, Hill BG, Hellmann J. Exercise-induced specialized proresolving mediators stimulate AMPK phosphorylation to promote mitochondrial respiration in macrophages. Mol Metab. 2022 Dec;66:101637. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2022.101637. Epub 2022 Nov 15. PMID: 36400404; PMCID: PMC9719872.
• Gibb AA, Huynh AT, Gaspar RB, Ploesch TL, Lombardi AA, Lorkiewicz PK, Lazaropoulos MP, Bedi K, Arany Z, Margulies KB, Hill BG, Elrod JW. Glutamine uptake and catabolism is required for myofibroblast formation and persistence. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2022 Nov;172:78-89. doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2022.08.002. Epub 2022 Aug 18. PMID: 35988357.
• Kumar R, Adhikari S, Driver EM, Smith T, Bhatnagar A, Lorkiewicz PK, Xie Z, Hoetker JD, Halden RU. Towards a novel application of wastewater-based epidemiology in population-wide assessment of exposure to volatile organic compounds. Sci Total Environ. 2022 Nov 1;845:157008. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157008. Epub 2022 Jun 27. PMID: 35772546.
• Yan K, Mei Z, Zhao J, Prodhan MAI, Obal D, Katragadda K, Doelling B, Hoetker D, Posa DK, He L, Yin X, Shah J, Pan J, Rai S, Lorkiewicz PK, Zhang X, Liu S, Bhatnagar A, Baba SP. Integrated Multilayer Omics Reveals the Genomic, Proteomic, and Metabolic Influences of Histidyl Dipeptides on the Heart. J Am Heart Assoc. 2022 Jul 5;11(13):e023868. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.121.023868. Epub 2022 Jun 22. PMID: 35730646; PMCID: PMC9333374.
• Fulghum KL, Smith JB, Chariker J, Garrett LF, Brittian KR, Lorkiewicz PK, McNally LA, Uchida S, Jones SP, Hill BG, Collins HE. Metabolic signatures of pregnancy-induced cardiac growth. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2022 Jul 1;323(1):H146-H164. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00105.2022. Epub 2022 May 27. PMID: 35622533; PMCID: PMC9236881.
• Gibb AA, Murray EK, Huynh AT, Gaspar RB, Ploesch TL, Bedi K, Lombardi AA, Lorkiewicz PK, Roy R, Arany Z, Kelly DP, Margulies KB, Hill BG, Elrod JW. Glutaminolysis is Essential for Myofibroblast Persistence and In Vivo Targeting Reverses Fibrosis and Cardiac Dysfunction in Heart Failure. Circulation. 2022 May 24;145(21):1625-1628. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.057879. Epub 2022 May 23. PMID: 35605036; PMCID: PMC9179236.
• Abouleisa RRE, Salama ABM, Ou Q, Tang XL, Solanki M, Guo Y, Nong Y, McNally L, Lorkiewicz PK, Kassem KM, Ahern BM, Choudhary K, Thomas R, Huang Y, Juhardeen HR, Siddique A, Ifthikar Z, Hammad SK, Elbaz AS, Ivey KN, Conklin DJ, Satin J, Hill BG, Srivastava D, Bolli R, Mohamed TMA. Transient Cell Cycle Induction in Cardiomyocytes to Treat Subacute Ischemic Heart Failure. Circulation. 2022 Apr 26;145(17):1339-1355. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.057641. Epub 2022 Jan 21. PMID: 35061545; PMCID: PMC9038650.