Metabolomics for the discovery of neonatal sepsis biomarkers

Early diagnosis of sepsis is of ultimate importance for patient’s outcome, especially during the neonatal period. The topic has attracted the interest of the scientific community and certain several sepsis biomarkers have been proposed including metabolites mainly involved in energy metabolism. The current project will take a hypothesis free approach performing holistic analysis of small molecule metabolites. Non-targeted analysis with the highest separation power information-rich technologies (NMR, LC-MS, GC-MS) will compare the metabolic profiles of blood and urine of neonates receiving neonatal intensive care at the “Hippokrateion” Hospital of Thessaloniki. Advanced statistical analysis will aim at revealing and validating possible novel biomarker of neonatal sepsis. The project brings together the bioanalytical team of AUTH (with a recognised experience in metabolomics) and the team of clinicians working at the Neonatal intensive care unit, in which are annually treated around 550-600 critically ill preterm and term neonates.