Validating biomarkers in epidemiological settings

High quality quantitative measurement of circulating biomarkers are essential in many epidemiologic studies related to nutrition and health. This includes studies of morbidities such as CVD, cancers, mental disorders, and pregnancy outcomes. We therefore constantly work to optimize the analytical repertoire of the laboratory. Ongoing work includes:

1. Adding biomarkers related to vitamin/nutritional status and behaviour (smoking, coffee consumption) to the analytical repertoire.
2. Validating biomarkers in epidemiological settings. This includes:
   1. Trigonelline as a marker of coffee consumption.
   2. Nicotinamide and N¹-methylnicotinamide in serum/plasma as markers of vitamin B3 (niacin) status.
   3. Thiamine and thiamine monophosphate in serum/plasma as markers of vitamin B1 (thiamin) status.
   4. Investigation of biomarker reliability and reproducibility in terms of intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)
   5. Investigation of amino acids in serum/plasma and urine in relation to cardiometabolic health, disease development and progression

The overall strategy is the exploitation of novel methods for assessment of biomarker status based on mass spectrometry to carry out metabolic profiling of large national and international cohorts.