Birmingham cell science initiative promises cross-application testing
27 Oct 2024
University of Birmingham Enterprise announces the launch of a new division, Biocell Energetics, to provide profiling and testing to assess how living cells produce energy.
Founded by cellular bioenergetics expert Dr Jonathan Barlow, scientific research director at Birmingham’s Cellular Health and Metabolism Facility at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, it will provide a portfolio of services.
These include real-time metabolic profiling of cells from healthy and disease populations or models, metabolic phenotyping and quality control testing for cryopreserved and isolated cells, real-time mitochondrial toxicity screening, and professional consultancy, including study design, data analysis and interpretation.
Barlow specialises in advanced techniques that reveal when cells switch between energy-producing pathways, the effect of exercise on metabolic processes, and factors that can affect energy metabolism in mitochondria responsible for generating most of the energy needed by cells.
Barlow said: “The bioenergetics approach is relevant to studying many cell types, and disease states including the metabolic changes in diabetes and obesity. The service has contributed to recently published studies in heart disease, immunology and cancer, cardiology, and immunology, in addition to basic research.”
One work stream will target elite sports; the division will operate from the university’s school of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation sciences, one of the longest established in Europe for scientific research into sport, exercise, health and rehabilitation
This aims to help enable athletes to optimise performance by exploring how their cells generate and use energy, and unlocking insights into how they respond individually to training and injury. Barlow aims to create an R&D platform to identify novel biomarkers for predictors of inflammation, immunosuppression and metabolic health and fitness.
The work is expected to have a wide range of industrial applications, such as drug discovery and therapeutics, tissue banks, cell culture media production for cultivated meats and environmental testing.
Barlow’s analysis benchmarks the balance between the two pathways by which cells make energy; one occurring inside mitochondria, the other in the cytosol or liquid portion of the cell. The balance between these varies by cell type, with cells able to switch between them – the research will examine in real time when and how this balance change occurs.
Pic: Fayette Reynolds MS
