Peter Meikle

Adjunct Prof

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

- A novel approach in improving lipidomics throughput for population profiling
- Development and validation of a high throughput clinical lipidomics platform
- Integration of population level ‘omics' data to target cardiometabolic disease
- Plasma lipidomic profiling in type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease
- Plasmalogen modulation as a therapeutic approach for fatty liver disease

1987 …2025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Biography

Peter Meikle is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Diabetes at the School of Translational Medicine, Monash University.  He is also an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. He leads the Obesity and Diabetes Program and is Head of the Metabolomics laboratory. He is Editor in Chief of the journal Metabolites and also holds affiliate positions at the University of Melbourne, and the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney.

Professor Meikle has been working in the field of metabolomics and lipidomics for over 25 years. His laboratory has developed state of the art lipid profiling technology and has used this to characterise the plasma lipidome associated with obesity, prediabetes and diabetes, stable and unstable coronary artery disease and Alzheimer’s disease. More recently his lab has performed the largest GWAS of the plasma lipidome and identified new links to coronary artery disease. The Metabolomics laboratory with funding support from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), the Medical Research Future Fund (Australia), the National Institutes of Health (USA) and the National Heart Foundation (Australia) is continually improving its lipidomic profiling technology. These resources, including our existing disease/lifestyle/drug specific lipidomic profiles, our lipidomic GWAS asinternational collaborationsical and biostatistical expertise in lipidomics are made available to the research community through our publications, our web portal (https://metabolomics.baker.edu.au/) and our many national and international collaborations.

Professor Meikle has been involved in NHMRC review panels, and he regularly reviews for NHMRC, NHF, ARC and Diabetes Australia. Internationally he reviews for NMRC (Singapore, International Expert Panel) Diabetes UK, British Heart Foundation, French National Research Agency. He also reviews for many of the top journals (Nature, Circulation, Science, Diabetes and others). 

Research interests

Alterations in metabolism underpin many chronic diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and age related dementia. While some metabolic pathways are well characterised, their dysregulation resulting from environmental and genetic influences are less well understood, particularly in a setting of chronic disease.

The Metabolomics laboratory uses state of the art tandem mass spectrometry to obtain metabolic profiles from cell and animal models in addition to clinically relevant human samples. This approach is providing an improved understanding of disease mechanisms leading to new biomarkers for improved diagnosis and risk assessment as well as new therapeutic strategies in the areas of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The lipidomic platform developed by Professor Meikle is one of the most advanced nationally or internationally and has made a substantial contribution to many collaborative projects both in Australia and internationally. Professor Meikle has identified lipidomic signatures that can improve upon traditional risk factors for the prediction of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease. He is currently working with commercial partners to translate these developments into clinical tests and new therapeutics.

Supervision interests

A novel approach in improving lipidomics throughput for population profiling
Lipids are key biological molecules essential to life. Lipidomics is the characterisation and study of the complete lipidome of a biological system (fluid, cell, tissue, organism). In humans, plasma is an easy to obtain bio-fluid where lipids have been demonstrated to be perturbed in various disease settings.

Development and validation of a high throughput clinical lipidomics platform
The Metabolomics Group at the Baker Institute studies the role of lipid metabolism dysregulation in the development and progression of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease. To enable this work, we have developed world-class technology which allows us to measure hundreds of different lipids within biological samples through the use of HPLC and tandem mass spectrometry. We are now in the process of translating these research-based protocols for use in a clinical setting, forming the Clinical Lipidomics Platform.

Integration of population level ‘omics' data to target cardiometabolic disease
Cardiometabolic diseases represent the number one cause of death in the world, encompassing cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes (T2D), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), chronic kidney disease, and others. Dysregulation of lipid metabolism is intimately linked to the aetiology, progression, and sequelae of this collection of diseases.

Plasma lipidomic profiling in type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease
The Metabolomics Laboratory uses state-of-the-art tandem mass spectrometry to obtain metabolic/lipid profiles from cell and animal models in addition to clinically relevant human samples to develop new approaches to diagnosis, risk assessment and therapy for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Plasmalogen modulation as a therapeutic approach for fatty liver disease
Plasmalogens are glycerophospholipids that are present in numerous mammalian tissues and can act as a natural antioxidant (1). Lipidomic profiling of multiple populations and clinical cohorts has identified decreased levels of plasmalogens to be associated with aging and obesity (2) as well as prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (3). Modulation of plasmalogens can be achieved by oral administration of their metabolic precursors, naturally occurring compounds known as alkylglycerols or by suppressing the activity of plasmalogen catabolising enzyme, TMEM86B.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Education/Academic qualification

PhD, James Cook University

… → 1986

External positions

Co-director, Australian Cardiovascular Alliance, Australian Cardiovascular Alliance

Senior Principal Research Fellow, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

Head, Metabolomics Laboratory, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

Co-lead, Obesity and Lipids Program, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

Head, Systems Biology Domain, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

Head of Department of Cardiovascular Research Translation and Implementation, La Trobe University

Research area keywords

  • Metabolomics
  • Obesity
  • Diabetes
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Metabolism

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
  • Co-director

    Peter Meikle (Director)

    2019

    Activity: Community Talks, Presentations, Exhibitions and EventsPublic lecture/debate/seminar

  • Metabolites (Journal)

    Peter Meikle (Editor in chief)

    20122021

    Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work typesEditorial responsibility