Biography: Philip Britz-McKibbin is a Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Cystic Fibrosis Canada Researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Philip obtained his BSc in Chemistry (U. Toronto, 1994), and PhD in Analytical Chemistry (UBC, 2000) and a Japan Society for Promotion of Science PDF position in Japan (Hyogo University, 2001-2003) prior to starting his academic position at McMaster. His research group is also an affiliate member of The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC) – Canada’s national metabolomics laboratory. His research interests in bio-analytical chemistry, separation science, mass spectrometry and metabolomics include the design of novel analytical strategies to quantify and identify metabolites of clinical significance in biological samples. Philip’s laboratory aims to discover new biomarkers that support early detection of inherited diseases and chronic disorders which can be applied to understand the developmental origins of disease. His research interests include the development of high throughput screening methods for large-scale epidemiological studies in metabolomics in order to improve the measurement of smoke exposure and habitual diet as compared to self-reports from questionnaires.

Webpage: https://britz.mcmaster.ca/

Statement of Purpose: If elected as a member of the board of directors at the Metabolomics Society, I would contribute to several committees and scientific task groups that reflect my passion and experience in translational metabolomics research and scientific transparency. Given an ongoing reproducibility crisis in science, I would be pleased to lead new initiatives in the data analysis task group that harmonize both metabolomic and lipidomic reporting standards for both research communities. I can contribute to the epidemiology task group due to the major technical barriers in conducting large-scale yet cost-effective metabolomic analyses that are also practical for developing countries. Also, I would be interested in leading a new task group that can focus on expanding exposomic initiatives as a way to evaluate the environmental determinants of health and disease. Lastly, I would be pleased to lend my support to the Training and Conference Committees as key outreach activities to better promote metabolomics research to a new generation of young investigators.

Biography: Farhana is a Senior Scientist and Programme Leader of the New Zealand Institute of Plant and Food Research Ltd (PFR). After completing a PhD on microbial/plant metabolomics from The University of Auckland (UoA), New Zealand, Farhana started working in PFR to further an applied research project that aimed to develop technologies for the production of lower alcohol wines using metabolomics. Over the last 13 years, she has contributed to some of the pioneering work on the application of targeted and untargeted metabolomics in grape and wine research. She has developed and optmised workflows in metabolomics, lipdomics and imaging approaches using mass spectrometry to study fermentation outcomes, grape and yeast metabolism. Farhana’s current research focused on investigating the impact of biodiversity and ecosystem services in horticultural systems in New Zealand. In addition, she also collaborates with different national and international research groups to develop flavoromics approaches to be used for the production of premium quality of fermented food products.

Farhana is the current President of Australia and New Zealand Metabolomics Society where she has taken initiatives to bring the metabolomics community together. She is also one of the key organizers of ANZ metabolomics conference (ANZMET) and Virtual Podium Asia Pacific. Farhana is an editorial board member of Food Research International and a guest editor of special issues of MDPI journal Metabolites.

Statement of Purpose: Over the last decade, metabolomics (as a research tool and also as a community) has developed tremendously. Metabolomics society, previous board members and many other society members worked hard to develop guidelines and workflows to ensure the growth of the field. It is, therefore, a privilege to present myself now as a potential candidate of the metabolomics society board where I believe I can play a constructive and positive role using my past experiences as an organiser.

Since I started my PhD in metabolomics, I have tried to involve myself with different activities occurred within regional and international metabolomics community. As President of Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) Metabolomics Society, I have undertaken many initiatives to bring members together within region and also to encourage early career researchers to be involved in networking and showcasing their research work. I also had the opportunity to work along my colleagues from different parts of world, which resulted in publishing a few important perspective articles that dealt with the opinions and trends in metabolomics. In addition to professional societies, my current job also provides me ample of opportunities to connect with students, industry and local partners where I get to present what role metabolomics can play to improve current food production systems. I would now like to extend my contribution to a wider community of metabolomics researchers and if elected by your vote, I will try to work towards these goals:

1) Better connection of ANZ metabolomics community to international metabolomics researchers
2) Cross talk with other omics communities as I believe we have a lot to learn from shared interactions and conversations
3) More support to early career researchers by proving them guidance towards career development
4) Contribute to enhance and ensure diversity and inclusion within metabolomics society

Biography: Kati Hanhineva is professor in food development with special focus on Nordic foods and health effects at the University of Turku, Department of Life Technologies, Food Chemistry and Food Development unit since beginning of 2020. She also holds Research Director position at the School of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition at the University of Eastern Finland, and is affiliated as visiting scientist (Marie Curie MoRE2020 Fellow) at the Division of Food and Nutrition Science, Department of Biology and Biological Engineering at the Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. Hanhineva has completed PhD in biotechnology at the University of Kuopio 2008. During years 2008-2014 she conducted post-doctoral research at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, at the University of Eastern Finland with several research visits to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Since 2014 she has been the principal investigator in food and nutritional metabolomics research group and led and participated in several national and EU-funded research projects including Academy of Finland Researcher Fellowship 2014-2019. Prof Hanhineva is also the founder and Chairperson of the start-up company Afekta Technologies focusing on developing and providing metabolic profiling analytics for industry and academia, especially within food and nutrition related applications.