The Buzatto lab was established in July 2023 within the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary. Our primary focus is on untargeted lipidomics, which involves the comprehensive analysis of lipids in biological samples, using LC-MS (liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry).

Lipids are a diverse group of molecules usually composed of a headgroup attached to one or more hydrocarbon chains. They mostly display low polarity and low solubility in water. Lipids play crucial roles in various biochemical functions, including cellular and organelle compartmentalization, recognition of pathogens, activation of immune pathways, molecular transportation, signaling, intercellular communication, modulation of protein folding, regulation of gene expression, and energy storage.

Lipidomics is the quantitative and qualitative investigation of lipids in biological samples, shedding light on biochemical pathways, diseases, and physiological reactions. A typical lipidomics experiment starts with the isolation of lipids from a complex biological sample (e.g., serum, cerebrospinal fluid, tissue, cells, extracellular vesicles, culture media, etc.), which is usually performed by liquid-liquid extraction with organic solvents. Once isolated, the analysis of lipids can be performed using different approaches. We employ liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-MS) as the primary analytical technique for untargeted lipidomics. Our objective is to analyze a wide range of lipids in highly complex biological samples, resulting in very complex data. To extract meaningful insights, we process the data through several steps, including peak picking, alignment, mass correction, data cleansing, lipid identification, normalization, batch correction, quality control, and biostatistics. The crucial final step involves the biochemical evaluation of the identified lipids.