Executive Summary

Devising a strategy for lipidomics research (Objective 3)

Experts in three areas of development of lipidomics: i) technology, ii) cell biology, and iii) health, were collected in three workshops to discuss progress in their subfield and to define what would be the best way to stimulate lipidomics research in Europe. Experts in technology were brought into contact with basic scientists and clinicians at an industry workshop, that was positioned as a satellite meeting to the concluding ELIfe/FEBS special meeting in Noordwijkerhout (NL). The outcome of this meeting, which attracted over 60 scientists, was a round table discussion on technologies available, on instrument development, and on application of these in society, where possible in high throughput mode. A second workshop in Bilbao (E), cosponsored by EMBO, brought together basic scientists in physics, chemistry and biology who focused on the theme of lipid rafts, membrane substructures of exciting functions, and the possibilities to further characterize these structures using novel technologies. In a final workshop on 'Lipidomics and Health' preceding the 2006 ICBL meeting in Pécs (HU), life scientists and clinical scientists discussed the applications of novel and high-throughput lipidomics technology in medical applications.

In line with the workshops, the following papers were published, each of which included a conclusion/perspective section: 'Cellular Lipidomics', 'Lipidomic strategies to study structural and functional defects of ABC-transporters in cellular lipid trafficking' and 'The European Lipidomics Initiative: Enabling Technologies' [4-6]. In addition, a white paper under the title 'Enabling Technologies for Studying the Genome, Proteome and Cytome of the Lipidome' was published as an interactive paper on the ELIfe website [7]. A series of editorials by ELIfe members served to critically evaluate future developments in lipidomics [8-13]. In addition, ELIfe members formed an interest group with other lipid scientists to prepare a policy document for the European Science Foundation under the title: 'Structural Medicine II: the Importance of Lipidomics for Health and Disease' [14].

To pursue possibilities to apply for lipidomics funding under FP7 two meetings were organized in 2006 and 2007 for ELIfe members plus other interested scientists in Frankfurt (D). This eventually resulted in the successful FP7 application LipidomicNet. A EuroCORE theme proposal EuroMEMBRANE by a team led by the ELIfe chair has been accepted by ESF, with an expected call for research grant applications in early 2008 [15].

Science-related and policy meetings (Objective 5)

A series of scientific and strategic meetings has been organised. Besides the technology workshop in Dresden (2005), and the three workshops in Bilbao, Pécs an Noordwijkerhout, ELIfe contributed sessions to four industrial and life science meetings: (1) the 2005 conference of the European Life Sciences Organization (ELSO 2005) in Dresden (D), was attended by 1,200 scientists, amongst whom 40% PhD students. The program consisted of 6 plenary sessions, 21 minisymposia, 3 poster sessions and 7 sub-group meetings. ELIfe contributed Minisymposium 1: Lipidomics. (2) the 26th World Congress and Exhibition of the International Society for Fat Research (26th ISF World Congress) in Prague (CZ) 2005, hosted by the Czech Chemical Society and Euro Fed Lipid: 'Modern aspects of fats and oils - A fascinating source of knowledge'. The session on 'Lipid Bioscience and Genomics' to this industrial meeting was sponsored by ELIfe. (3) the 47th International Conference on the Bioscience of Lipids (ICBL - ELIfe – ILPS joint meeting), 2006, in Pécs (HU): two sessions on 'Lipidomics' and 'membrane microdomains' to an audience of basic lipid scientists. (4) the 4^th Euro Fed Lipid Congress, 'Fats, Oils and Lipids for a Healthier Future - The Need for Interdisciplinary Approaches', Madrid (E), 2006. One session was contributed on 'Lipid Mediators and Lipidomics'. This was a meeting with an industrial character.

The concluding general ELIfe meeting 'New concepts in lipidology: from lipidomics to disease' in Noordwijkerhout, NL, 2006, was cosponsored as a FEBS special meeting and was attended by over 250 participants The meeting hosted a short joint symposium between the Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften and the Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences. A special ELIfe issue of FEBS Letters under the title 'Lipidome and Disease' was distributed at the meeting [16].