NExTLi

Infrastructure and User Services  

NExTLi will connect three state-of-the-art lipidomics centres which are already leaders in the field of lipidomics to provide technologies and services to explore lipid metabolism and its role in health and disease that cannot be provided by individual institutes or facilities. NExTLi will enable the Dutch research community to: 

• Utilize advanced mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) and lipid-targeted fluxomics for high-resolution lipid profiling; 
• Apply spatial lipidomics to study lipid distribution at single-cell resolution in tissue and organ models; 
• Conduct in-depth lipidomics for detailed lipid structural analysis and profiling, advancing lipid-based biomarker discovery; 
• Perform high-throughput lipidomics for large-scale studies on lipid metabolism and disease mechanisms; 
• Integrate lipidomics with other omics data for FAIR multi-omics research, enhancing comprehensive disease models; 
• Automate lipidomics workflows and data analysis pipelines to streamline data processing and improve experimental throughput; 
• Develop a national network for FAIR lipidomics research, providing infrastructure, training, and easy-to-use workflows for lipidomics data analysis; 
• Establish a nationwide training and outreach platform to expand lipidomics expertise across the scientific community. 

By synergistically joining our three centers, NExTLi will provide coordinated access to the Netherlands' best lipidomics technologies and analysis platforms, achieving excellence in lipidomics research and supporting the international competitiveness of Dutch biomedical research. This infrastructure will also lay the foundation for integrating lipidomics with other omics technologies, accelerating breakthroughs in personalized medicine, drug development, and disease prevention. 

Examples/description of the type of research  

NExTLi will enable cutting-edge lipidomics research, addressing both fundamental and translational challenges in lipid metabolism. Concrete examples of the type of research NExTLi will support include:

• Structural elucidation of lipid isomers and lipid class distributions in patients with inherited metabolic diseases, supporting biomarker discovery for diagnosis and treatment monitoring
• Tracer-based flux studies using stable-isotope labelled precursors to quantify lipid synthesis, turnover and remodelling rates in cell and tissue models of neurodegenerative disease
• Mass spectrometry imaging of lipid distribution across tumour and adjacent tissue sections to identify spatially resolved lipid signatures associated with tumour progression or therapy response
• Large-scale lipidomic profiling of patient or population cohorts to identify lipid species associated with cardiovascular risk, with downstream multi-omics integration of genomic and clinical data
• Single-cell-resolution spatial lipidomics linking cellular lipid composition to the local tissue microenvironment in models of metabolic dysfunction.

NExTLi will also collaborate with national and international research infrastructures, including X-omics, NL-BioImaging, and NEMI, facilitating cross-disciplinary research in lipidomics, bioinformatics, and disease modelling. Through its training and outreach programs, NExTLi will promote the use of lipidomics technologies in clinical research, drug development, and disease prevention, contributing to the global scientific community and advancing the application of lipidomics for biomedical innovations.

How to access the infrastructure  

NExTLi will primarily offer remote access (80%), via the website (using an Access Policy strategy similar to NL-BioImaging and X-omics, ensuring access to the best-suited facility and technology) and through the network of related national omics core facilities. Following an intake meeting researchers will be able to submit samples for analysis, with data processing and interpretation handled by NExTLi experts. Physical access (20%) will be available for sample preparation and specialized analyses at partner institutions. This access model ensures broad usability, optimizing infrastructure capacity while supporting both remote and hands-on engagement with lipidomics technologies.