About us

The uOttawa Metabolomics Core Facility (MCF) is part of the Metabolomics Innovation Resource of the Goodman Cancer Research Centre (GCRC), the University of Ottawa and the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI), known collectively as MIRGOV.

About the facility

Effective, routine analysis of small molecule metabolites and lipids can be challenging for many academic, medical and commercial researchers. The uOttawa MCF features a wide array of platforms managed by professional staff and provides cutting-edge targeted metabolomics, untargeted metabolomics and stable isotope tracing analysis.

Dedicated to metabolomics analysis and continuous innovation since 2019, MCF provides support not only to uOttawa clients but other academic and external clients, assisting with study design, data generation, biological insights, actionable recommendations and functional reports with consultative support, enabling progress from concept to outcome to publication.

MCF is committed to quality, delivering state-of-the-art quality assurance and quality control at every stage of your study to ensure highly reproducible, high quality data.

Members of the facility

Dr. Mireille Khacho

Director

Research Interests

Focus

Unravel the mechanisms by which mitochondria regulate stem cell function and longevity in order to develop therapeutic strategies that enhance tissue regeneration during aging and degenerative diseases.

Research program

Mitochondria are essential organelles with a fundamental role in cellular metabolism. These dynamic organelles undergo constant fission and fusion events that dictate their overall morphology and bioenergetic status. Dysregulation of mitochondrial dynamics is an important pathogenic factor in many degenerative diseases and during aging, however, little is known regarding the effect this has on stem cell function and tissue regeneration. Our recent studies have uncovered a novel role for mitochondrial dynamics and function in the regulation of stem cell metabolism and fate decisions. These studies revealed that mitochondria orchestrate a nuclear transcriptional program through ROS-mediated retrograde signaling that regulates the self-renewal versus differentiation decisions of stem cells. Consequently, disruption of mitochondrial dynamics alters the metabolic and redox profile of stem cells and impairs their self-renewal and regenerative capacity.

Based on these findings we propose that 1) mitochondria are a key regulatory point for the life-long maintenance and function of stem cells; and that 2) impaired mitochondrial function is an underlying factor in the functional and regenerative decline of muscle stem cells in muscle-related degenerative diseases and aging.

Our future studies will aim at elucidating the mechanisms by which mitochondrial dynamics and function control the metabolic profile, fate decisions and maintenance of muscle stem cells, during physiological and disease states, using metabolomic, transcriptomic and proteomic approaches. The long-term goal of this research program is to establish therapeutic strategies to modify mitochondrial dynamics and function in stems cells in order to restore the regenerative potential of tissues within the context of degenerative diseases and aging.

Students and Postdoctoral fellows interested in joining our dynamic lab and advancing in this exciting new research field are encouraged to contact Dr. Mireille Khacho.

Dr. Shama Naz

Core facility Manager

Dr. Shama Naz received her PhD in medical chemistry from Universidad San Pablo CEU, Spain, in 2014, under the supervision of Dr. Coral Barbas. Her PhD research involved the development and application of metabolomics and lipidomics methodologies to animal models of lung injury. Her academic training in omics platforms (metabolomics, lipidomics and peptidomics) took place in leading international labs at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea (MSc); Universidad San Pablo CEU, Spain (PhD); the Karolinska Institute, Sweden (post-doc); and Concordia University, Canada (post-doc). She has extensive experience with multiple matrices for global and targeted metabolomics and lipidomics, using GC-MS, LC-MS and CE-MS.

Her research focuses on applying and developing state-of-the-art MS-based omics technologies to perform molecular phenotyping, which entails chromatographic and MS method development, as well as univariate and multivariate statistical analysis for integrating omics-based data.

Dassine Azouaoui

Technician

After graduating with a pharmacy degree from the University of Algiers (Algeria) in 2012, Dassine pursued a residency in medical biochemistry at the University Hospital Mustapha Pacha (Algeria)and has worked in the healthcare field from 2011 to 2018. She joined the University of Ottawa as a research assistant at the Menzies lab (2018) and completed her MSc in Biochemistry. During her MSc program, she received training in metabolomics and lipidomics through the Metabolomics Advanced Training and International Exchange Program (Matrix) program supported by Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Her diverse professional and academic experience allowed her to acquire a thorough understanding of metabolism as well as the analytical techniques including LC/MS-based metabolomics, biochemical assays, cell culture, as well as molecular biology and microbiology techniques.

Oversight Committee

Dr. Mireille Khacho (Director) — Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology, uOttawa

Dr. Steffany Bennett — Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, uOttawa

Dr. Mary-Ellen Harper — Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, uOttawa

Dr. Peter Siegel — Associate Professor, departments of Medicine, Biochemistry, and Anatomy and Cell Biology, McGill University

Dr. Lawrence Kazak — Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, McGill University

Dr. Daina Avizonis — Facility Manager — Research Associate, Metabolomics Innovation Resource, McGill University

Dr. Russell Jones — Professor, Center for Cancer and Cell Biology, Van Andel Institute

Mr. Sean Geddes — Business Development Manager, Innovation Support Services, uOttawa

Dr. Kristen Baetz — Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, and Interim Assistant Dean, uOttawa

Contact us

Metabolomics Core Facility

Shipping address:
Attn: Shama Naz
Metabolomics Core Facility
University of Ottawa
Roger Guindon Hall
451 Smyth Road, Room 1129/1130
Ottawa ON K1H 8M5

Shama Naz, PhD

Manager, Metabolomics Core Facility
Office: RGN 4108; Core facility: RGN 4520; Lab: RGN 4210B
Phone: 613-562-5800 ext. 8018
snaz3@uOttawa.ca

Mireille Khacho, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
Director, Metabolomics Core Facility
mkhacho@uottawa.ca