On 18 June at 15 Aigar Ottas will defend his doctoral thesis „The metabolomic profiling of psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and atherosclerosis“.
Supervisor:
Ursel Soomets (PhD (neurokeemia), TÜ bio- ja siirdemeditsiini instituut)
professor Külli Kingo (dr. med. (arstiteadus), TÜ kliinilise meditsiini instituut).
Opponent:
Andrea Armirotti (PhD), Analytical Chemistry Lab, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Itaalia.
Summary
Metabolomics is a filed of science that concerns with the measurement and analysis of low molecular-weight compounds. Using various methods it is possible create a metabolomic fingerprint that characterises certain diseases or conditions. Aigar Ottas' thesis titled "The metabolomic profiling of psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and atherosclerosis" concerns with the characterisation of three different diseases - psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and atherosclerosis using multiple different scientific methods and statistical modelling. In the course of the analysis, multiple products of various metabolic pathways were discovered that are specific to the diseases. For example, in the case of psoriasis, multiple amino acids were discovered that can be associated with the rapid proliferation of skin cells and various metabolomic markers that hint at a higher oxidative stress. Analysing atopic dermatitis, many acylcarnitine ratios were discovered that are indicative of aberrations in fat metabolism and an increase in the risk for cardiovascular diseases. Multiple phosphatidylcholines were discovered in the study on atherosclerosis that were directly correlated to arterial stiffness and an increased heart rate. Additionally multiple markers were found in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis that might increase the risk for cardiovascular diseases. Based on the measured data, statistical machine-learning models were created that can predict whether a sample belongs to a case or control with high probability.