Patrycja Puchalska

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Credentials

PhD

Bio

In 2014, Dr. Puchalska earned her PhD degree in Analytical Chemistry (Cum Laude) the Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Analytical Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Alcalá (Spain). During her postdoctoral training, she worked with Dr. Peter Crawford, a leader in ketone body metabolism, applying lipidomics and metabolomics approaches to prevent the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In 2017 she joined the Division of Molecular Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where she leads cutting-edge research that utilizes mass spectrometry approaches to reveal essential information regarding the metabolism.

Research Summary

Dr. Puchalska’s expertise spans metabolomics, computational analytics, and systems physiology. She focuses on cellular metabolism and inter-organ nutrient exchange in mouse models and in human participants. She explores dynamic shifts in ketone body, glucose, and fat metabolism in the central nervous system in response to obesity and diabetes, and during embryonic and neonatal stages, using novel mass spectrometry-based approaches and mouse models. She develops and deploys approaches to formally quantitate metabolite pools via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; perform stable isotope tracing into the metabolome; quantitatively speciate more than a dozen lipid classes via shotgun lipidomics; and perform metabolic flux analysis. She and her team are adept at vascular cannulations to study metabolism as well as primary culture of numerous cell types, including, macrophages, hepatocytes, and neurons from genetically modified mouse models. These approaches allow her and her team to identify novel mediators of inter-organ cross-talk that position the developing and adult brain to be poised for healthy outcomes.

Teaching Summary

Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and lipidomics