MRC Epidemiology UnitDevelopment and application of nutritional biomarker analysis
Team lead and contact
Albert Koulman, Head of Nutritional Biomarker Laboratory. Albert.Koulman@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
About the laboratory
The Nutritional Biomarker Laboratory (NBL) develops innovative methods and approaches for the measurement of nutritional biomarkers, together with high quality measurements using well-established assays.
The laboratory has a wide range of technologies, from biochemical assays, liquid and gas-based chromatography, mass spectrometry and specialist isotope ratio mass spectrometers relating to the use of stable isotopes.
The NBL is the lead laboratory for the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) and has a wide range of national and international collaborations. These range from mechanistic studies to population surveys in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and knowledge sharing, e.g. it is a partner in OpeN-Global, an open-access knowledge hub of nutritional biomarkers for global health.
Specialisms include:
- Serum folate vitamers
- Vitamin D metabolites by LC-MS/MS
- Functional enzymatic markers of vitamin B1 and B2 status
- High-throughput analysis of the fatty acids from plasma phospholipids
The Stable Isotope Laboratory is highly specialised and offers assessment of:
- Total energy expenditure using the gold-standard method of doubly labelled water
- Body composition
- Breast milk intake using the dose-to-mother method
The Stable Isotope Laboratory is well placed to evaluate emerging technologies in the field, such as off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy which allows for the simultaneous measurement of multiple isotopes.
Services
NBL can provide advice and assistance on:
- Protocol design (including nutritional biomarker selection)
- Sample collection and handling
- Nutritional biomarker and nutritional status analysis
- Method development for novel nutritional biomarker measurement
- Interpretation and dissemination of results
Please contact us on NBL@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk or stable.isotope@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
We offer the following assays:
| Assay | Method | Analyte(s) |
| Vitamin B1 (thiamine) | HPLC ETK assay |
ThDP, TMP, thiamine |
| Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) | EGR assay | |
| Vitamin B6 | HPLC | PLP and PA |
| Folate vitamers | LC-MS/MS | Includes folic acid and MTHF |
| Vitamin C | Fluorescence | Ascorbic acid |
| Vitamin B12 | ELISA | Holotranscobalamin |
| Vitamin A | HPLC | Retinol and carotenoids |
| Vitamin D | LC-MS/MS | 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3-epi-25-hydroxyvitamin D 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D |
| Vitamin E | HPLC | α- and γ-tocopherol |
| PABA (for validation of 24 hour urine collection) | HPLC | Para-amino benzoic acid |
| Electrolytes | Ion-selective electrode | Na, K, Cl |
| Plasma phospholipid fatty acids | FAME GC | SFA: 14:0, 15:0, 16:0, 17:0, 18:0, 20:0, 22:0, 23:0, 24:0 MUFA: 16:1, 17:1, 18:1, 20:1, 22:1, 24:1 PUFA (n-6): 18:2, 18:3, 20:4, 22:5 PUFA (n-3): 18:3, 20:5, 22:6 Cis FA: 16:1, 18:1, 18:2 |
| Energy expenditure | IRMS | 18O and 2H |
| Body composition | IRMS | 2H |
| Breast milk intake | IRMS | 2H |
Staff
Albert Koulman, Head of Nutritional Biomarker Laboratory
Nutritional Biomarkers
- Kerry Jones, Senior Nutritional Biomarker Specialist
- Sarah Meadows, Laboratory Manager, Chromatography
- Damon Parkington, Laboratory Manager, Chemistry
- Tabasum Tabasum, Laboratory Analyst
- Amanda McKillion, Laboratory Analyst
Stable Isotope Laboratory
- Daniel Griffiths, Research Assistant
- Elise Orford, Laboratory Analyst
- Michelle Venables, Head of Stable Isotope Laboratory
Former staff
- Auguste Boge, Research Administration
- Dr Larissa Richardson, Laboratory Co-ordinator
- Keith Summerhill, Laboratory Analyst
Publications
See recent Nutritional Biomarkers team publications on the MRC Epidemiology Unit online publications database.