Unlocking New Frontiers in Metabolomics: A Seminar with Dr. Pieter Dorrestein
Dr. Dorrestein speaking with Beckman Scholar, Micaila Marcelle, before seminar.
We had the incredible opportunity to host an eminent professor for the Beckman Scholars Program & Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology Joint Seminar at the University of Arizona this past February. We chose to invite Dr. Pieter Dorrestein, a professor at the University of California San Diego’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Science, who specializes in microbiome research and mass spectrometry.
Dr. Dorrestein presenting to audience at Beckman Scholars/MCB Joint Seminar.
During his visit, we got to learn more about both his academic career and his current research. Having the chance to engage with such an accomplished researcher was illuminating. His highly interdisciplinary work showed us the immense potential in collaboration between different fields. His curiosity expressed the value in consistently asking questions and trying new things at every step in our academic journeys. In short, hosting Dr. Dorrestein was an experience we won’t soon forget. Meeting a highly-cited scientist such as Dr. Dorrestein offered us a rare chance as undergraduates to gain insight into the perspectives and ideas of someone who blazed their own trail within their field of interest.
Dr. Dorrestein presenting at Beckman Scholars/MCB Joint Seminar.
Dr. Dorrestein delivered his talk “The Emergence of the Big Data Era in Metabolomics - Discovering New (Micro)Biological Biochemistry Across Metabolomics Repositories” to a packed room. Attending his talk opened the door to a variety of topics that traditionally is not part of a typical undergraduate education. We learned about the essential diversity present within bile acids, and how Dr. Dorrestein’s strategy of making synthetic combinations of these acids fortuitously predicted their biological occurrence. The value of an annotated, well-constructed database was emphasized throughout his talk. Dr. Dorrestein discussed the Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS) system, an open-access database designed to simplify and optimize the processes of storing and searching for mass spectrometry metabolite data; this tool has then allowed for major leaps forward within the realm of metabolomics. Lastly, his lecture demonstrated to us the value in collaboration, as seen in his work between computer scientists, chemists, and biologists.
The value of hosting this seminar went beyond the academic knowledge we gained, however. Planning the event took a significant amount of time and effort, with organizing Dr. Dorrestein’s schedule involving wrangling together the availability of different professors he wanted to meet, mapping out in detail how to smoothly transition from one location to another, and even ensuring that meals satisfied both the regulations of the university and the dietary needs of those attending. The process was difficult and time consuming, to say the least, but it provided us with key experience in handling a range of moving pieces and getting it to work as a coherent whole.
We’re incredibly thankful for the Beckman Foundation, UBRP, and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology for making this opportunity a possibility. Getting to meet with Dr. Dorrestein, discuss his research, how he got to where he is, and where he plans to go from here was nothing short of eye opening.
Dr. Dorrestein (left) with Beckman Scholars, Isaac Kailat (center) & Micaila Marcelle (right).