Dr. Kristaps Klavins
Riga Technical University,
Riga, Latvia
Programm
“Metabolomics-guided design of biomaterials for bone regeneration”
Biomaterials are widely used in regenerative medicine to support tissue repair by providing structural and biochemical cues to cells. However, their influence on the cellular microenvironment, particularly at the metabolism level, remains largely overlooked in biomaterial design. At the same time, metabolomics provides a powerful framework for addressing complex biological questions at the interface of materials science and cell biology.
We have established a metabolomics-driven approach to study cell–biomaterial interactions, integrating quantitative LC–MS metabolomics with stable isotope tracing. The framework enables systematic characterization of how biomaterials reshape cellular metabolism and how these changes determine cell fate. Across model systems, glutamine and glutamate metabolism emerges as a central regulatory axis linking biomaterial properties to cellular function and regenerative outcomes. This emerged across distinct systems including calcium phosphate composites, gallium-treated osteosarcoma cells, hyaluronic acid/ε-poly-L-lysine hydrogels, and a glutamate-coordinated amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP-Glu) developed in our group. Modulation of this pathway directly influences energy metabolism and biosynthetic capacity and can be exploited to enhance tissue repair using metabolite-releasing biomaterials. In parallel, perturbation of glutamine metabolism is associated with disruption of redox homeostasis, including depletion of intracellular glutamate, altered cystine handling, and loss of cytoskeletal integrity, consistent with disulfidptosis. Together, these observations indicate that biomaterials can both induce and resolve metabolic vulnerabilities, positioning metabolism and redox balance as interconnected determinants of cell fate in regenerative environments.
Our findings establish metabolism as an active and designable component of the cell–biomaterial interface and demonstrate how metabolomics can guide biomaterial development from descriptive optimization toward mechanism-informed engineering.
Host: Gernot SCHABBAUER
Contact for questions: Helmut KUBISTA