The London Metallomics Facility (LMF) is a King’s College London core research facility, providing the analytical tools to understand the critical roles that metals play in biology. LMF is developing into a centralised hub for comprehensive multi-institutional integration of state-of-the-art metallomic analytics and correlative bioimaging, establishing direct interaction between leading research groups, commercial partners, and industry, whilst driving educational outreach and public engagement strategies. For further information about our equipment and services visit: LMF Service and Booking
The Second LMF Virtual Symposium "Role of Metals in Brain Health and Disease" was held on 11 May 2022 - the recordings all the talks are now available at this event page.
The LMF is part of King's network of Core Facilities. Our links with the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences at King’s enables it to access a range of radionuclides of trace metals suitable for radiotracer studies and PET metallomics in vivo, as well as access to SIMS and MC-ICP-MS at Imperial College and ongoing development of single cell ICP-MS with collaborators at the Francis Crick Institute. The Metal Metabolism Research Group leads core metallomics research including brain and cardiovascular ageing in collaboration with researchers associated with Ageing Research at King's (ARK), the King's British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence and the Physiological Oxygen Laboratory to assess the metallome of cells cultured under hypoxic and defined O2 environments.
Publications
Wan Y, Stewart T, Amrahli M, Evans J, Sharp P, Govindan V, Hawkesford MJ, Shewry PR (2022) Localisation of iron and zinc in grain of biofortified wheat J. Cereal Sci. in press.
Goncalves J, Moog S, Morin A, Gentric G, Müller S, Morrell AP, Kluckova K, Stewart TJ, Andoniadou CL, Lussey-Lepoutre C, Bénit P, Thakker A, Vettore L, Roberts J, Rodriguez R, Mechta-Grigoriou F, Gimenez-Roqueplo AP, Letouzé E, Tennant DA, Favier J (2021) Loss of SDHB Promotes Dysregulated Iron Homeostasis, Oxidative Stress, and Sensitivity to Ascorbate. Cancer Res. 81:3480–3494.
Unosson J, Kabéle M, Boman C, Nyström R, Sadiktsis I, Westerholm R, Mudway IS, Purdie E, Raftis J, Miller MR, Mills NL, Newby DE, Blomberg A, Sandström T, Bosson JA (2021) Acute cardiovascular effects of controlled exposure to dilute Petrodiesel and biodiesel exhaust in healthy volunteers: a crossover study. Part Fibre Toxicol. 18:22.
Osytek KM, Blower PJ, Costa IM, Smith GE, Abbate V, Terry SYA (2021) In vitro proof of concept studies of radiotoxicity from Auger electron-emitter thallium-201 EJNMMI Res 11: 63.
Alaohali A, Brauer DS, Gentleman E, Sharpe PT (2021) A modified glass ionomer cement to mediate dentine repair Dental Materials 37:1307-1315.
Frangos T, Maret W (2021) Zinc and Cadmium in the Aetiology and Pathogenesis of Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Nutrients. 13:53.
Ashraf A, Jeandriens J, Parkes HG, So PW (2020) Iron dyshomeostasis, lipid peroxidation and perturbed expression of cystine/glutamate antiporter in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence of ferroptosis. Redox Biology 32:101494.
Kutscher D, Asogan D, Mudway I, Brekke P, Beales C, Wang X, Perkins M, Maret W, Stewart T (2020) Imaging of Trace Elements Using Laser Ablation–Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry: Emerging New Applications Spectroscopy 35:16–26.
Muraina IA, Bury NR, Scott A, Graham A, Hogstrand C (2020) The zebrafish Znt1asa17 mutant reveals roles of zinc transporter-1a in embryonic development. J. Trace Elem. Med. Biol. 60:126496.
Selley L, Schuster L, Marbach H, Forsthuber T, Forbes B, Gant TW, Sandstrom T, Camina N, Athersuch TJ, Mudway I, Kumar A (2020) Brake dust exposure exacerbates inflammation and transiently compromises phagocytosis in macrophages. Metallomics. 12:371-386.
Fitzgerald JA, Urbina MG, Rogers NJ, Bury NR, Katsiadaki I, Wilson RW, Santos EM (2019) Sublethal exposure to copper supresses the ability to acclimate to hypoxia in a model fish species. Aquatic Toxicology 217:105325.
Stewart TJ (2019) Across the spectrum: integrating multidimensional metal analytics for in situ metallomic imaging. Metallomics. 11:29–49.
Zhang K, Alaohali A, Sawangboon N, Sharpe PT, Brauer DS, Gentleman E (2019) A comparison of lithium-substituted phosphate and borate bioactive glasses for mineralised tissue repair Dental Materials 35: 919-927.
Maret W (2019) The redox biology of redox-inert zinc ions. Free Radic Biol Med. 134:311-326.
Koppenol WH, Hider R (2019) Iron and redox cycling. Do's and don'ts. Free Radic Biol Med. 133:3-10.
Kose T, Vera-Aviles M, Sharp PA, Latunde-Dada GO (2019) Curcumin and (−)- Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Protect Murine MIN6 Pancreatic Beta-Cells against Iron Toxicity and Erastin-Induced Ferroptosis Pharmaceuticals. 12: 26.
Ashraf A, Stosnach H, Parkes HG, Hye A, Powell J, So PW (2019) Pattern of Altered Plasma Elemental Phosphorus, Calcium, Zinc, and Iron in Alzheimer’s Disease. Scientific Reports 9:3147.
Cusnir R, Cakebread A, Cooper MS, Young JD, Blower PJ, Ma MT (2019) The effects of trace metal impurities on Ga-68-radiolabelling with a tris(3-hydroxy-1,6-dimethylpyridin-4-one) (THP) chelator RSC Advances 9: 37214-37221.
Lawson R, Maret W, Hogstrand C (2019) ZnT8 Haploinsufficiency Impacts MIN6 cell zinc content and β-cell phenotype via ZIP-ZnT8 coregulation Int. J. Mol. Sci. 21:5485.
Pfeffer PE, Lu H, Mann EH, Chen YH, Ho TR, Cousins DJ, Corrigan C, Kelly FJ, Mudway IS, Hawrylowicz CM (2018) Effects of vitamin D on inflammatory and oxidative stress responses of human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to particulate matter. PLoS One 8:e0200040.
Prabhu PAJ, Stewart T, Silva M, Amlund H, Ørnsrud, R, Lock EJ, Waagbo R, Hogstrand C (2018) Zinc uptake in fish intestinal epithelial model RTgutGC: Impact of media ion composition and methionine chelation J Trace Elem Med Biol. 50:377-383.
Lawson R, Maret W, Hogstrand C (2018) Prolonged stimulation of insulin release from MIN6 cells causes zinc depletion and loss of β-cell markers J Trace Elem Med Biol. 49: 51-59.
Parsons D, Hogstrand C, Maret W (2018) The C-terminal cytosolic domain of the human zinc transporter ZnT8 and its diabetes risk variant FEBS Journal 285: 1237-1250.
Maret W (2018) Metallomics: The Science of Biometals and Biometalloids. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1055:1-20.
Bartnika JJ, Blower PJ (2018) Insights into Trace Metal Metabolism in Health and Disease from PET: PET Metallomics. J Nucl Med. 59:1355-1359.
Miyashita L, Suri R, Dearing E, Mudway I, Dove RE, Neill DR, Van Zyl-Smit R, Kadioglu A, Grigg J (2018) E-cigarette vapour enhances pneumococcal adherence to airway epithelial cells. Eur Respir J. 51:1701592.
Jarvis IWH, Enlo-Scott Z, Nagy E, Mudway IS, Tetley TD, Arlt VM, Phillips DH (2018) Genotoxicity of fine and coarse fraction ambient particulate matter in immortalised normal (TT1) and cancer-derived (A549) alveolar epithelial cells. Environ Mol Mutagen. 59:290-301.
Robinson RK, Birrell MA, Adcock JJ, Wortley MA, Dubuis ED, Chen S, McGilvery CM, Hu S, Shaffer MSP, Bonvini SJ, Maher SA, Mudway IS, Porter AE, Carlsten C, Tetley TD, Belvisi MG (2017) Mechanistic link between diesel exhaust particles and respiratory reflexes. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 141:1074-1084.
Mann EH, Ho TR, Pfeffer PE, Matthews NC, Chevretton E, Mudway I, Kelly FJ, Hawrylowicz CM (2017) Vitamin D Counteracts an IL-23-Dependent IL-17A+IFN-γ+ Response Driven by Urban Particulate Matter. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 57:355-366.
Tsionou MI, Knapp CE, Foley CA, Munteanu CR, Cakebread A, Imberti C, Eykyn TR, Young JD, Paterson BM, Blower PJ, Ma MT (2017) Comparison of macrocyclic and acyclic chelators for gallium-68 radiolabelling RSC Advances 7: 49586-49599.
da Silva JG, Babb R, Salzlechner C, Sharpe PT, Brauer DS, Gentleman E (2017) Optimisation of lithium-substituted bioactive glasses to tailor cell response for hard tissue repair Journal of Materials Science 52: 8832–8844.
Samoli E, Atkinson RW, Analitis A, Fuller GW, Beddows D, Green DC, Mudway IS, Harrison RM, Anderson HR, Kelly FJ (2016) Differential health effects of short-term exposure to source-specific particles in London, UK. Environ Int. 97:246-253.
Atkinson RW, Samoli E, Analitis A, Fuller GW, Green DC, Anderson HR, Purdie E, Dunster C, Aitlhadj L, Kelly FJ, Mudway IS (2016) Short-term associations between particle oxidative potential and daily mortality and hospital admissions in London Int J Hyg Environ Health. 219:566-572.
Samoli E, Atkinson RW, Analitis A, Fuller GW, Green DC, Mudway I, Anderson HR, Kelly FJ (2016) Associations of short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution with cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions in London, UK Occup Environ Med. 73:300-307.
Atkinson RW, Analitis A, Samoli E, Fuller GW, Green DC, Mudway IS, Anderson HR, Kelly FJ (2016) Short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and daily mortality in London UK 26:125–132.
Suri R, Periselneris J, Lanone S, Zeidler-Erdely PC, Melton G, Palmer KT, Andujar P, Antonini JM, Cohignac V, Erdely A, Jose RJ, Mudway I, Brown J, Grigg J (2016) Exposure to welding fumes and lower airway infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 137:527-534.
Awards
London Metallomics Facility - Wellcome Trust Multi-user Equipment Grant
Metallomic profiling and redox signalling in human coronary artery endothelial and smooth muscle cells in physiological normoxia and ischaemia/reperfusion injury - Heart Research UK
Multidimensional Metallomic Imaging for Environmental Hazard Analysis - Natural Environment Research Council
PET metallomics in cancer: predicting response to platinum drugs - Medical Research Council
Metallomic Profiling and Imaging for Understanding Skin and Scalp Biology - BBSRC LIDo
Metal Fingerprints in Normal Cell States and Disease - King's Together Strategic Award
Media & Press
Media
LMF - An emerging analytical platform for multidimensional metallomics
Selected recorded talks from the LMF King's Together Award Symposium (5 May 2021)
Listen to Monday Science podcast interviews - featuring Dr Thea Steward
Press
Elemental Bioimaging – A Perspective on Metallomics as an Emerging Scientific Field
Publications
Wan Y, Stewart T, Amrahli M, Evans J, Sharp P, Govindan V, Hawkesford MJ, Shewry PR (2022) Localisation of iron and zinc in grain of biofortified wheat J. Cereal Sci. in press.
Goncalves J, Moog S, Morin A, Gentric G, Müller S, Morrell AP, Kluckova K, Stewart TJ, Andoniadou CL, Lussey-Lepoutre C, Bénit P, Thakker A, Vettore L, Roberts J, Rodriguez R, Mechta-Grigoriou F, Gimenez-Roqueplo AP, Letouzé E, Tennant DA, Favier J (2021) Loss of SDHB Promotes Dysregulated Iron Homeostasis, Oxidative Stress, and Sensitivity to Ascorbate. Cancer Res. 81:3480–3494.
Unosson J, Kabéle M, Boman C, Nyström R, Sadiktsis I, Westerholm R, Mudway IS, Purdie E, Raftis J, Miller MR, Mills NL, Newby DE, Blomberg A, Sandström T, Bosson JA (2021) Acute cardiovascular effects of controlled exposure to dilute Petrodiesel and biodiesel exhaust in healthy volunteers: a crossover study. Part Fibre Toxicol. 18:22.
Osytek KM, Blower PJ, Costa IM, Smith GE, Abbate V, Terry SYA (2021) In vitro proof of concept studies of radiotoxicity from Auger electron-emitter thallium-201 EJNMMI Res 11: 63.
Alaohali A, Brauer DS, Gentleman E, Sharpe PT (2021) A modified glass ionomer cement to mediate dentine repair Dental Materials 37:1307-1315.
Frangos T, Maret W (2021) Zinc and Cadmium in the Aetiology and Pathogenesis of Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Nutrients. 13:53.
Ashraf A, Jeandriens J, Parkes HG, So PW (2020) Iron dyshomeostasis, lipid peroxidation and perturbed expression of cystine/glutamate antiporter in Alzheimer's disease: Evidence of ferroptosis. Redox Biology 32:101494.
Kutscher D, Asogan D, Mudway I, Brekke P, Beales C, Wang X, Perkins M, Maret W, Stewart T (2020) Imaging of Trace Elements Using Laser Ablation–Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry: Emerging New Applications Spectroscopy 35:16–26.
Muraina IA, Bury NR, Scott A, Graham A, Hogstrand C (2020) The zebrafish Znt1asa17 mutant reveals roles of zinc transporter-1a in embryonic development. J. Trace Elem. Med. Biol. 60:126496.
Selley L, Schuster L, Marbach H, Forsthuber T, Forbes B, Gant TW, Sandstrom T, Camina N, Athersuch TJ, Mudway I, Kumar A (2020) Brake dust exposure exacerbates inflammation and transiently compromises phagocytosis in macrophages. Metallomics. 12:371-386.
Fitzgerald JA, Urbina MG, Rogers NJ, Bury NR, Katsiadaki I, Wilson RW, Santos EM (2019) Sublethal exposure to copper supresses the ability to acclimate to hypoxia in a model fish species. Aquatic Toxicology 217:105325.
Stewart TJ (2019) Across the spectrum: integrating multidimensional metal analytics for in situ metallomic imaging. Metallomics. 11:29–49.
Zhang K, Alaohali A, Sawangboon N, Sharpe PT, Brauer DS, Gentleman E (2019) A comparison of lithium-substituted phosphate and borate bioactive glasses for mineralised tissue repair Dental Materials 35: 919-927.
Maret W (2019) The redox biology of redox-inert zinc ions. Free Radic Biol Med. 134:311-326.
Koppenol WH, Hider R (2019) Iron and redox cycling. Do's and don'ts. Free Radic Biol Med. 133:3-10.
Kose T, Vera-Aviles M, Sharp PA, Latunde-Dada GO (2019) Curcumin and (−)- Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Protect Murine MIN6 Pancreatic Beta-Cells against Iron Toxicity and Erastin-Induced Ferroptosis Pharmaceuticals. 12: 26.
Ashraf A, Stosnach H, Parkes HG, Hye A, Powell J, So PW (2019) Pattern of Altered Plasma Elemental Phosphorus, Calcium, Zinc, and Iron in Alzheimer’s Disease. Scientific Reports 9:3147.
Cusnir R, Cakebread A, Cooper MS, Young JD, Blower PJ, Ma MT (2019) The effects of trace metal impurities on Ga-68-radiolabelling with a tris(3-hydroxy-1,6-dimethylpyridin-4-one) (THP) chelator RSC Advances 9: 37214-37221.
Lawson R, Maret W, Hogstrand C (2019) ZnT8 Haploinsufficiency Impacts MIN6 cell zinc content and β-cell phenotype via ZIP-ZnT8 coregulation Int. J. Mol. Sci. 21:5485.
Pfeffer PE, Lu H, Mann EH, Chen YH, Ho TR, Cousins DJ, Corrigan C, Kelly FJ, Mudway IS, Hawrylowicz CM (2018) Effects of vitamin D on inflammatory and oxidative stress responses of human bronchial epithelial cells exposed to particulate matter. PLoS One 8:e0200040.
Prabhu PAJ, Stewart T, Silva M, Amlund H, Ørnsrud, R, Lock EJ, Waagbo R, Hogstrand C (2018) Zinc uptake in fish intestinal epithelial model RTgutGC: Impact of media ion composition and methionine chelation J Trace Elem Med Biol. 50:377-383.
Lawson R, Maret W, Hogstrand C (2018) Prolonged stimulation of insulin release from MIN6 cells causes zinc depletion and loss of β-cell markers J Trace Elem Med Biol. 49: 51-59.
Parsons D, Hogstrand C, Maret W (2018) The C-terminal cytosolic domain of the human zinc transporter ZnT8 and its diabetes risk variant FEBS Journal 285: 1237-1250.
Maret W (2018) Metallomics: The Science of Biometals and Biometalloids. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1055:1-20.
Bartnika JJ, Blower PJ (2018) Insights into Trace Metal Metabolism in Health and Disease from PET: PET Metallomics. J Nucl Med. 59:1355-1359.
Miyashita L, Suri R, Dearing E, Mudway I, Dove RE, Neill DR, Van Zyl-Smit R, Kadioglu A, Grigg J (2018) E-cigarette vapour enhances pneumococcal adherence to airway epithelial cells. Eur Respir J. 51:1701592.
Jarvis IWH, Enlo-Scott Z, Nagy E, Mudway IS, Tetley TD, Arlt VM, Phillips DH (2018) Genotoxicity of fine and coarse fraction ambient particulate matter in immortalised normal (TT1) and cancer-derived (A549) alveolar epithelial cells. Environ Mol Mutagen. 59:290-301.
Robinson RK, Birrell MA, Adcock JJ, Wortley MA, Dubuis ED, Chen S, McGilvery CM, Hu S, Shaffer MSP, Bonvini SJ, Maher SA, Mudway IS, Porter AE, Carlsten C, Tetley TD, Belvisi MG (2017) Mechanistic link between diesel exhaust particles and respiratory reflexes. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 141:1074-1084.
Mann EH, Ho TR, Pfeffer PE, Matthews NC, Chevretton E, Mudway I, Kelly FJ, Hawrylowicz CM (2017) Vitamin D Counteracts an IL-23-Dependent IL-17A+IFN-γ+ Response Driven by Urban Particulate Matter. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 57:355-366.
Tsionou MI, Knapp CE, Foley CA, Munteanu CR, Cakebread A, Imberti C, Eykyn TR, Young JD, Paterson BM, Blower PJ, Ma MT (2017) Comparison of macrocyclic and acyclic chelators for gallium-68 radiolabelling RSC Advances 7: 49586-49599.
da Silva JG, Babb R, Salzlechner C, Sharpe PT, Brauer DS, Gentleman E (2017) Optimisation of lithium-substituted bioactive glasses to tailor cell response for hard tissue repair Journal of Materials Science 52: 8832–8844.
Samoli E, Atkinson RW, Analitis A, Fuller GW, Beddows D, Green DC, Mudway IS, Harrison RM, Anderson HR, Kelly FJ (2016) Differential health effects of short-term exposure to source-specific particles in London, UK. Environ Int. 97:246-253.
Atkinson RW, Samoli E, Analitis A, Fuller GW, Green DC, Anderson HR, Purdie E, Dunster C, Aitlhadj L, Kelly FJ, Mudway IS (2016) Short-term associations between particle oxidative potential and daily mortality and hospital admissions in London Int J Hyg Environ Health. 219:566-572.
Samoli E, Atkinson RW, Analitis A, Fuller GW, Green DC, Mudway I, Anderson HR, Kelly FJ (2016) Associations of short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution with cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions in London, UK Occup Environ Med. 73:300-307.
Atkinson RW, Analitis A, Samoli E, Fuller GW, Green DC, Mudway IS, Anderson HR, Kelly FJ (2016) Short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and daily mortality in London UK 26:125–132.
Suri R, Periselneris J, Lanone S, Zeidler-Erdely PC, Melton G, Palmer KT, Andujar P, Antonini JM, Cohignac V, Erdely A, Jose RJ, Mudway I, Brown J, Grigg J (2016) Exposure to welding fumes and lower airway infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 137:527-534.
Awards
London Metallomics Facility - Wellcome Trust Multi-user Equipment Grant
Metallomic profiling and redox signalling in human coronary artery endothelial and smooth muscle cells in physiological normoxia and ischaemia/reperfusion injury - Heart Research UK
Multidimensional Metallomic Imaging for Environmental Hazard Analysis - Natural Environment Research Council
PET metallomics in cancer: predicting response to platinum drugs - Medical Research Council
Metallomic Profiling and Imaging for Understanding Skin and Scalp Biology - BBSRC LIDo
Metal Fingerprints in Normal Cell States and Disease - King's Together Strategic Award
Media & Press
Media
LMF - An emerging analytical platform for multidimensional metallomics
Selected recorded talks from the LMF King's Together Award Symposium (5 May 2021)
Listen to Monday Science podcast interviews - featuring Dr Thea Steward
Press
Elemental Bioimaging – A Perspective on Metallomics as an Emerging Scientific Field
Our Partners
The London Metallomics Facility partners with ThermoFisher Scientific and Teledyne CETAC Technologies for analytical technology development. We acknowledge funding from Heart Research UK, British Heart Foundation, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Wellcome Trust. In addition we partner with the following:
Wellcome Trust
Imperial College London
The Francis Crick Institute
National Physics Laboratory
Group leads
Wolfgang Maret
Professor of Metallomics
Alexander Morrell
London Metallomics Facility Manager
Alex Griffiths
London Metallomics Deputy Facility Manager
Contact us
Related departments
- Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
- Centre for Gene Therapy & Regenerative Medicine
- School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine & Sciences
- School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences
- School of Life Course & Population Sciences
- Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience