The formation of sulfate esters is central to human metabolism where they play a key role in metabolite excretion, and also serve as a store or depot for circulating steroid hormones. Sulfate metabolism is driven by a complex web of sulfotransferase and sulfatase enzymes throughout the body. There is a growing realisation that sulfate metabolites may serve as powerful markers of disease or doping in sport. However, analytical methods to study the sulfate metabolome or ‘sulfatome’ are limited. This project will develop powerful methods of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, coding and computational data analysis to study sulfate metabolites in mammalian systems with the goal of generating freely available tools that reveal the true complexity and roles of sulfate metabolites in mammalian systems.

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