Bart was invited to share his expertise on multi-omics at two events: first at the Future Analytical Summit on 6th of October in Ghent, followed by the Belgian Proteomics Association (BePA) Conference hosted in Liége on 12–13 October. Two events, one common theme: bringing multiple layers of biological information together to gain deeper insights!

The VIB Metabolomics Core had a strong presence at the Benelux Metabolomics Days in Antwerp on 22–23 September, preceded by the Young BMC meeting on 21 September. Shauni and Lidiia kicked things off at Young BMC, while Bart, Marco and Sam joined for the main conference.

Marco presented his recent work on the hidden variables influencing DESI-based spatial metabolomics, highlighting the impact of solvent composition and tissue type. Sam presented a new approach to broad GC-based targeted tracer metabolomics using soft ionization by chemical reaction in transfer (SICRIT).

A great opportunity to share our latest work and connect with the Benelux metabolomics community!

The lab has upgraded its analytical capabilities with two additional Orbitrap Astral Zoom mass spectrometers, now installed and operational. Made possible by an FWO Large-Scale Infrastructure Grant, this major investment combines speed and sensitivity to support exciting new multi-omics research.

A huge team effort brought these instruments to life, with support from VIB, KU Leuven and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Now the team is ready to explore what these three powerful platforms can do!

P.S. The empty-truck incident was eventually compensated with custom team T-shirts. As for what actually happened that day… some stories are best kept within the lab.

A new paper from Marco, published in the Journal of Proteome Research, highlights two critical factors shaping DESI-based spatial metabolomics data: solvent composition and tissue type. The study reveals how these often-overlooked variables can influence metabolic profiles, underlining the importance of optimising experimental conditions for reliable spatial metabolomics.

Curious to learn more? Read the paper here!

At The Society for Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM) 2026 in Helsinki, Finland (25–28 August), Bart was invited to present the work of Sam and Karen on “Resolving Hexose-Phosphates by LC-MS Leads to New Insights in PGM1-CDG Pathophysiology”. The study highlights how improved separation of hexose-phosphate isomers can reveal new insights into the mechanisms underlying PGM1-CDG.

Missed the paper or want to revisit it? Read the publication here.

June was a busy month for our team! Lidiia presented a poster on the impact of cell sorting on metabolism at American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) in San Diego, USA. Closer to home, Marco helped organise the VIB Spatial Omics Summer School (15–19 June) and the VIB Spatial Omics Conference (22–24 June), where he also contributed as a trainer.

Meanwhile, Bart and Shauni travelled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to teach a course on the do’s and don’ts of stable isotope tracing at the Metabolomics conference (21–24 June). Shauni’s abstract on ex vivo stable isotope tracing in tissue homogenates was also selected for an oral presentation!

From posters and training to conference talks and organisation, June truly took our team around the world.

From 4–8 May, Bart joined the European School of Metabolomics in Leiden, the Netherlands, where he taught a course on tracer metabolomics. Sharing expertise and helping the next generation of metabolomics researchers follow the flow of metabolites!

New paper from the lab! Mainak published his new study in npj Systems Biology and Applications, introducing the ComplexomeProfiler framework. By mapping proteomics data onto protein complexes, this approach helps researchers identify disrupted cellular machinery and uncover disease-related mechanisms. Applied to patient-derived cells with inborn errors of metabolism, the framework revealed changes in mitochondrial protein complexes involved in energy production, offering a new perspective on interpreting proteomics data. Interested? You can read the paper here.

Bart and his consortium secured his third Large-Scale Infrastructure Grant from the FWO for their project, “Compartmentalized Complexity: Advancing Omics at the Organelle Level”, ranked #1 by the FWO Science Commission. Together with Jochen Lamote (VIB Flow Core Leuven) and Pablo Hernández-Varas (VIB Bioimaging Core Leuven), and in collaboration with Kris Gevaert, Johan Swinnen and Thierry Voet, the team will advance subcellular omics and explore biology at the organelle level. A major achievement built on strong collaborations across VIB and KU Leuven and the start of an exciting next chapter!

March was a busy month for Bart! From 11–13 March, he attended the first-ever African Metabolomics Meeting in Muldersdrift, South Africa, where he was invited to give two talks: one on tracer metabolomics and one on multi-omics. Back in Belgium, he took the stage again on 18 March at Laborama in Brussels to present on multi-omics.

On 5 March, Karen Driesen successfully defended her PhD thesis, “Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation: New Models and Multi-Omics Perspectives”. With Peter Witters as promotor and Bart  as co-promotor, her work explored new models and multi-omics approaches to advance our understanding of these rare metabolic disorders. Congratulations, Karen, on this important achievement!

From 11–13 February, Bart, Sam, Shauni and Marco guided participants through our VIB Tracer Metabolomics Course, featuring a hands-on session for the very first time! After the weekend, Marco teamed up with Peter Verhaert to organize the VIB Spatial Metabolomics Data Analysis Course in Leuven on 17 February.

Read the interview with Bart Ghesquière on HLN, on a bloodtest that can be a game changer in predicting diseases

Congratulations to Rita Faria, Laurence Verstraeten, Bram Decru and Andrea Jáñez Pedrayes for successfully defending their doctoral thesis! Well done!

Check out our new publication with Mayo Clinic, on repurposing an existing drug for diabetes, to improve the lives of PMM2-congenital disorder of glycosylation (PMM2-CDG) patients. It was published in Cell Reports Medicine: Tracer metabolomics reveals the role of aldose reductase in glycosylation.
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Isabelle Adant, MD, succesfully defended her doctoral thesis on "Mapping and treating metabolic re-wiring in mitochondrial disease" (promotor: Prof. David Cassiman). Congratulations Dr Adant!

Bart Ghesquière gave a lecture during the NMC BeNeLux online seminar (24 Nov)

Julie De Beule, MD, succesfully defended her PhD thesis on "The road towards reducing preservation injury & predicting donor kidney viability". Congratulations Dr De Beule!

Our pioneering work on setting up dedicated Core Facility career tracks has been published in EMBO Reports!
Over the past two years, the Core Facility heads and our Human Resources department have collaborated on setting up Core Facility specific career tracks, which were implemented last January. We received a lot of international interest for pioneering this. You can read all about the Core Facility tracks in our paper ‘How tech-savvy employees make the difference in core facilities’ that was published in EMBO Reports.- Read more

The VIB Tracer Metabolomics Course (22 April) by Bart Ghesquière and Sam De Craemer was highly appreciated - nice to have such and interested and active audience.

The Metabolomics Expertise Center obtained FWO funding for Medium AND Large Scale Infrastructure! It was hard work but we're very proud!

Bart Ghesquière gave a lecture on "Theoretical Tracing of Carbons across the Metabolic Network" at the Applied Bioinformatics in Life Sciences conference in Leuven (10-11 March) - Read more

Bart Ghesquière gave a lecture at the 14th International Congress of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (Sydney, Australia)

Together with Prof Swinnen, Bart Ghesquière gave a seminar on "Mass Spectrometry Imaging", during the webinar “Opening the Future - Spatial Multiomics Platform” - Read more

MEC received a FWO Large Equipment grant for a new mass spectrometer - honoured and proud!

Congrats to Silvia Radenkovic on obtaining a long research FWO travel grant! Silvia will join Eva Morava's lab at Mayo Clinic to validate novel in vivo treatment strategies for the treatment of inborn errors of metabolism and build a strong international network

Dries Verdegem gave a hands-on bio-informatics course on MEC toolset for metabolomics

Bart Ghesquière gave a Seminar on "Tracer Metabolomics"  at the VIB Medical Technology center, showing technological possibilities of the Metabolomics Expertise Center

Bart Ghesquière did the kick-off for the VIB training on metabolomics data interpretation in Leuven, together with Geert Goeminne.

Proud that our 'tracer-based diagnostic platform for anoxic kidney injury’ has been selected for the Fund for Translational Biomedical Research. For three years, the project will get an annual budget of 80keuro to study clinical applications of basic research findings.

How orbitrap helps VIB researchers expand the frontiers of science
Since its introduction in 2005, the Orbitrap mass spectrometer has quickly become a star in the research firmament. It has contributed to numerous significant breakthroughs in life sciences, especially in the fields of proteomics (the study of proteins and their functions) and metabolomics (the study of the intermediates and products of metabolism). First developed by the Russian physicist Alexander Makarov, a wide variety of Orbitrap mass spectrometers exist today, each with their own specifications. They all enable the quantification and profiling of small ionized particles using electrical fields. What makes Orbitrap such an important technology, and how does it help VIB researchers? We asked these questions to three researchers in separate VIB labs.
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