The Metabolomics laboratory at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute provides a leading translational environment for studying lipid metabolism in cardiometabolic disease. The laboratory has developed Australia’s largest high-throughput lipidomics platform using tandem mass spectrometry and has applied this capability to large clinical and population studies to identify lipidomic biomarker profiles associated with disease risk, therapeutic response, and metabolic health. Its research program focuses on understanding how environmental and genetic influences dysregulate lipid metabolism in chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and age-related dementia, with the broader aim of translating lipidomic discoveries into diagnostic tests, risk assessment tools, disease monitoring approaches, and therapeutic interventions.
Project summary
This project will develop and apply a mass spectrometry-based workflow to characterise lipoprotein(a), a genetically determined cardiovascular risk factor that is not routinely measured in clinical studies because of its complex isoform structure. Lipoprotein(a) is encoded by the LPA gene and varies substantially between individuals, producing protein isoforms of different lengths. This structural variation contributes to marked inter-individual differences and is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease risk.
The proposed study aims to establish a method for measuring both lipid profiles and lipoprotein(a) isoforms from a single plasma sample. This workflow will then be applied to plasma samples from a clinical cohort to assess lipoprotein(a) variation, alongside the individual lipid species associated with it.
By integrating lipidomics and proteomics approaches, this project will provide improved molecular resolution of lipoprotein(a)-associated cardiovascular risk. The findings will support future studies investigating the relationships between genetic variation, protein isoform structure, lipid metabolism, and clinical outcomes.
