Report of the Conference: “MS-based untargeted proteomics and metabolomics”. Verona 1-2 July 2019

Report of the Conference: “MS-based untargeted proteomics and metabolomics: cancer metabolism, therapeutic targets and biomarkers”, Verona 1^st-2^nd July 2019.

The second edition of the “international proteomics and metabolomics conference and advanced school” was held at the University of Verona on 1^st-2^nd July 2019. This event was organized in collaboration with the Division of Mass Spectrometry (DSM) and the Italian Association of Cell Culture (AICC).

The objective of the conference was to present the recent advances in the proteomics and metabolomics analyses and the scientific program of the conference covered various topics, including cancer metabolism, therapeutic targets and biomarkers. During the conference, the identification of protein biomarkers that can help in the diagnosis, prognosis and that can be useful as therapeutic targets has been discussed. On the other hand, also metabolomics profiling of biological fluids and cells can be useful to explain cell metabolism and to identify novel therapeutic targets. The conference illustrated several applications of MS-based proteomics and metabolomics analysis to the study of cancer and other diseases. Different strategies for the discovery of new therapeutic targets in cancer, as well as for study cancer metabolism were described. Particular attention was given to the role of lipids in cancer, and to the role of -omics in translational medicine for the screening and stratification of cancer patients. During the conference, participants have also learned how to use untargeted MS analysis and how to integrate omics techniques.

The Opening Lecture of the conference was given by Michael Wakelam (The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK) for his outstanding contribution to the MS-based lipidomic field. Subsequently, other leading international and national scientists, as Ruth Birner-Gruenberger (Omics Center Graz, Medical University of Graz, Austria), Fátima Baltazar (University of Minho, Portugal), Cristina Legido-Quigley (King’s College London, UK), Andrea Rasola (University of Padua, Italy) and Andrea Petretto (IRCCS Istituto G. Gaslini, Genoa, Italy), provided their relevant contributions to the conference. Some poster abstracts were also selected for oral presentations. In addition, 30 abstracts, including those selected for the conference, were scheduled for poster presentation in Poster Sessions. About 180 researchers, 14 eminent speakers, and the Board of Directors of AICC actively participated to the Conference. Furthermore, the event was supported by an unrestricted grant from six companies, providing their high innovative technology in the field.

As post-conference event, the Advanced School “Bioinformatics tools for mass mass-spectrometry based omic data: from pathways reconstruction to multi-omic data integration” was held, bringing additional scientific value to the event. The Advanced School was aimed to give advanced education in bioinformatics analysis of omics data to graduate, PhD, post-doc students, and young scientists working in the areas of untargeted proteomics and metabolomics.