DrZoeHall

My research interests lie at the intersection of mass spectrometry imaging, lipid metabolism and spatial systems biology, and fall broadly into the following themes:

Fatty liver disease

With the global epidemic of obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an increasingly common condition. Accumulation of fat in the liver can lead to liver injury, and can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. The driver for progression is complex and not fully understood, particularly on an individual basis. Our goal is to study the spatial organisation of metabolic networks in the liver and how these are perturbed in the context of fatty liver progression. This will open up new avenues to further decipher the mechanisms governing injury, tissue regeneration and carcinogenesis.

MAPPING Cancer metabolism

Novel approaches are key to unravel the complexity of the metabolic changes occurring during cancer development and progression. Given the heterogeneous nature within and between tumours, spatial resolution is essential when interrogating underlying disease mechanisms. Using mass spectrometry imaging we can track the metabolic adaptations of cancer cells over time and in space. Improved understanding of how cancer cells “hijack” normal cellular processes, such as metabolism, will lead to the discovery of novel drug targets and prognostic biomarkers, thus improving patient outcome.

Tools and method development

To underpin the biological applications, we will develop tools and software to study the spatial progression of disease. Key to this is integration of mass spectrometry imaging with other techniques, for example imaging mass cytometry, and spatial transcriptomics. In addition, the use of different modalities of mass spectrometry imaging, bulk tissue lipidomics and targeted metabolite profiling will be critical for increased metabolite coverage, and more confident metabolite identifications.