Lindsey is the Director of the newly named Translational Metabolomics Facility with core responsibilities and research focusing on the use of NMR- and MS-based metabolomics as a tool in the study of disease diagnostics and drug surveillance, both in the areas of clinical medicine and basic research. Her graduate career focused on the use of NMR-based metabolic profiling to evaluate mouse models of human disease, as well as the effects of various diseases and disorders on metabolic pathways through the analysis of human biological fluids (urine, feces, blood, etc.). Her experiences at Miami University under the guidance of Dr. Michael Kennedy, Ohio Eminent Scholar, coupled with my postdoctoral training under Dr. Susanne Wells prepared me to take on a leadership role in the field of metabolomics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. In 2014, Lindsey was asked to establish and build an NMR-based metabolomics facility, which would include the purchase and installation of a Bruker 600MHz NMR system in Spring 2016. The facility has now grown to include numerous research tools for the study of metabolism and nutrition. Dr. Romick’s close proximity to hematologists, oncologists, and pathologists has allowed me to establish collaborations with them, in which she utilizes biological fluids and tissue biopsies from their patients in an effort to identify markers of the diseases and drug treatment regimens that they are studying. Her goal is to demonstrate the power of metabolomics as a desirable tool to allow clinicians and basic scientists to better understand the biochemical pathways that are at play during disease onset, disease progression, and therapeutic intervention. In her role as a principal investigator and facility director, Lindsey is responsible for the development of not only her own research and clinical studies but also oversight for all studies that utilize my facility. In Fall 2023, she directed my efforts toward the expansion of the metabolomics capabilities to also include mass spectrometry-based platforms and the use of Seahorse analyzers for mitochondrial function analysis, in addition to our well-established NMR-based metabolomics platforms for the study of both steady state and stable isotope-resolved metabolomics. This expansion into MS technologies includes a strong partnership with Drs. D’Alessandro and Haines with the Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics Shared Resource Facility at University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Romick and her team provide oversight for over 40 studies including those on both the research and clinical sides of pediatric and adult disease research. The metabolomics expertise of Lindsey and her staff, coupled with the state-of-the-art Bruker NMR system for high resolution metabolic profiling has allowed for significant advancements to be made in the understanding of how metabolic perturbations impact therapeutic interventions and disease onset and progression and they plan to further advance these areas of research with the addition of highly sensitive analytical platforms for the study of metabolism in health and disease.
