Content

Objectives of the course:

The aim of the course is to give an understanding on how to apply mass spectrometry in nutritional and health research to improve the quality of analyses for organic and inorganic elements and gases such as CO₂ and CH₄

Learning outcomes and competences:

After finalizing the course, the students will be able to:

1. Explain the basic principles of mass spectrometry and its application in nutritional and health research and the use of quantitative and explorative techniques
2. Explain the basic principles of mass spectrometry in combination with chromatographic techniques such as Liquid and Gas Chromatography
3. Explain the basic principles of sample preparation for minerals, amino acids, SCFA (short chain fatty acids), climate gases, phenolic compounds, and untargeted metabolomics
4. Explain the basic principles of quantitative and explorative techniques combined with chemometrics 
5. Prepare samples for above mentioned procedures
6. Perform quantification based on standard curve procedures (quantitative techniques) or perform data-processing and visualization (explorative techniques)

The course is mixture between lectures and hands-on laboratory work. The course covers the following topics:

• Mass Spectrometry and its application in nutritional and health research (lecture)
• Mass Spectrometry in combination with Liquid and Gas Chromatography (the use of columns for different applications) (lecture)
• Sample preparation techniques for extraction, precipitation and up-concentration of molecules/elements and head-spice injection of gases (lecture)
• Quantitative versus explorative techniques and their applications (lecture)
• Sample preparation for minerals, amino acids, SCFA, climate gases, phenolic compounds, and untargeted metabolomics for analyses on ICP-MS, LC-MS and GC-MS (practical laboratory work, students will be divided into 4 groups depending on analysis of interest)
• Data handling and understanding including visualization, quantitation, processing and interpretation (practical work in 4 groups)

Participants are expected to deliver 100 working hours: 50 hours including lectures and laboratory work/evening work (preparation for the next day) and 50 hours preparatory including 15 hours of online course, reading books, protocols, videos and articles before the course and written report after the course.

The course is mixture between lectures and hands-on laboratory work. The course covers the following topics:

• Mass Spectrometry and its application in nutritional and health research (lecture)
• Mass Spectrometry in combination with Liquid and Gas Chromatography (the use of columns for different applications) (lecture)
• Sample preparation techniques for extraction, precipitation and up-concentration of molecules/elements and head-spice injection of gases (lecture)
• Quantitative versus explorative techniques and their applications (lecture)
• Sample preparation for minerals, amino acids, SCFA, climate gases, phenolic compounds, and untargeted metabolomics for analyses on ICP-MS, LC-MS and GC-MS (practical laboratory work, students will be divided into 4 groups depending on analysis of interest)
• Data handling and understanding including visualization, quantitation, processing and interpretation (practical work in 4 groups)

Participants are expected to deliver 100 working hours: 50 hours including lectures and laboratory work/evening work (preparation for the next day) and 50 hours preparatory including 15 hours of online course, reading books, protocols, videos and articles before the course and written report after the course.      

Prerequisites

This course targets PhD students, master students, postdocs and researchers who expect to use mass spectrometry in their research.

Course assessment

Participation in the course plus written report (5 pages). The report is assessed as “passed” or “not passed”. Presence at minimum 90 % of the course is required to obtain the course diploma.