Executive Summary

Design an Expertise Platform on Lipidomics

Hold a survey of expertise and infrastructure with the Lipidomics field

Description of the Lipidomics Expertise Platform (LEP)

The Lipidomics Expertise Platform (LEP, http://www.lipidomics-expertise.de) was set up in 2005 (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Starting page and menu structure of the LEP

In order to gain full access institutions and users have to register with the LEP. Currently, 128 different scientific and 6 industrial institutions are registered in the LEP. These institutions include a total number of 188 registered users. Most users belong to 18 different European countries, although there are non-European registrations from 8 countries (Table 1). The contact details of institutions and user registered in LEP are attached in appendices 1 and 3, respectively.

Europe
	Users		Institutions
Country	scientific	industrial	scientific	industrial
Austria	10	1	8	1
Belgium	4		4
Denmark	1		1
Finland	6		6
France	21	1	14	1
Germany	33		24
Greece	1		1
Hungary	7		4
Italy	14		9
Netherlands	21	2	7	2
Norway	1	1	1	1
Poland	1		1
Romania	1		1
Slovenia	1		1
Spain	10		7
Sweden	5		3
Switzerland	4		2
United Kingdom	22	1	16	1
Total	163	6	110	6
Non European Countries
	User		Institutions
Country	scientific	industrial	scientific	industrial
Argentina	2		1
Brazil	1		1
Canada	2		2
China	1		1
Israel	1		1
Japan	3		2
Taiwan	3		2
United States	12		8
Total	25	0	18	0

Table 1: Users and Institutions registered in the LEP (as at 01.01.2008)
One aim of the Lipidomics Expertise Platform was to collect and provide information on labs involved in lipidomics. Therefore the LEP contains various electronic surveys that collect contact information and give an overview of the expertise present in the various labs. The institutions registered were asked to complete electronic surveys on (Fig. 2):

• 
  Areas of lipidomics expertise
  
• 
  Lipid class skills
  
• 
  Technology skills
  
• 
  Organisms and cellular systems skills
  

Fig. 2: Wizard for electronic surveys

Fig. 3: Search menu for lipidomics expertise.

The results of these surveys are searchable in an advanced search menu (Fig. 3). A statistical analysis of the survey results is shown in Table 2-5. Detailed survey results are displayed in appendix 2 ordered by country.

Areas of Lipidomics Expertise
Lipid Metabolism	37
Analytical Tools in Lipidomics	36
Lipid Signalling	23
Membrane Microdomains	22
Mapping of the Lipidome	19
Genomics of the Lipidome	19
Lipids in Inflammation	19
Metabolomics of the Lipidome	18
Membrane Trafficking	18
Lipid Transport	17
Lipids and Nutrition	17
Signalomics of the Lipidome	11
Bioinformatics related to the Lipidome	10
Proteomics of the Lipidome	9
Pharmacology and toxicology of the Lipidome	8
Glycomics of the Lipidome	7
Lipids in Microbiology	7
Chemical Synthesis of Lipids (Probes/Tools/Agents)	7
Lipid Standard Bank	7
Nutrigenomics of the Lipidome	6
Lipids in Skin Care	2

Table 2: Survey on the areas of Lipidomics expertise; Institutions with medium and high expertise level

Lipid Class - Survey
Fatty Acids and Conjugates [FA01]	24
Glycerophosphocholines [GP01]	21
Glycerophosphoethanolamines [GP02]	17
Eicosanoids [FA03]	13
Ceramides [SP02]	13
Diradylglycerols [GL02]	12
Glycerophosphoglycerols [GP04]	11
Docosanoids [FA04]	8
Glycerophosphoglycerophosphates [GP05]	7
Glycerophosphates [GP10]	7
Fatty aldehydes [FA06]	6
Fatty esters [FA07]	6
Triradylglycerols [GL03]	5
Phosphosphingolipids [SP03]	5
Neutral glycosphingolipids [SP05]	5
Sterols [ST01]	5
Glycerophosphoserines [GP03]	4
Glycerophosphoinositols [GP06]	4
Glycerophosphoinositol bisphosphates [GP08]	4
Acidic glycosphingolipids [SP06]	4
Bile acids and derivatives [ST04]	4
Glycerophosphoinositol monophosphates [GP07]	3
Steroids [ST02]	3

Table 3: Survey on lipid classes investigated; Institutions with medium and high expertise level (only lipids classes with more than 2 hits)

Technology - Survey
ESI	32
Fluorescence Microscopy	27
Enzymatic Assays	27
LC	24
GC	23
Gel Electrophoresis	22
Light Microscopy	19
CI	18
Confocal Microscopy	18
LC-MS coupling	17
NCI	15
Thin layer chromatography	14
Normal Phase	14
GC-MS coupling	14
Real Time PCR	14
Reversed Phase	13
Ion Exchange	13
Liquid-Liquid Extraction	13
Cell Sorting	13
Immuno Assays	13
DNA Sequencing	12
Data Processing	11
EI	9
Quadrupole	9
Ion Trap	9
Database Setup	9
Cluster Analysis	9
Biostatistics	9
Immune Affinity	8
MALDI	8
Solid Phase Extraction	7
Microarrays	7
Chemical Synthesis	7
Size Exclusion	6
nano ESI	6
APCI	6
Electron Microscopy	6
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance	6
Multicolor Analysis	5
UV-Vis Spectroscopy	5
TOF	4
Electron Spin Resonance	4
Infrared Spectroscopy	4
Fluorescence Phosphorescence Spectroscopy	4
Capillary Electrophoresis	3
FTICR	3
QqTOF	3
Atomic Force	3
Capillary Electrophoresis	3
dHPLC	3