CNRS Chemistry welcomes Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin as the Ambassador in Chemical Sciences
On 16 September, 2025, Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin will begin a series of lectures in several French CNRS laboratories as CNRS Ambassador for Chemical Sciences in France1 . Director of the Analytical BioGeoChemistry research unit at Helmholtz Munich and of the Comprehensive Foodomics Platform at the Institute of Analytical Food Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany, he is a specialist in metabolomics. More specifically, he combines (ultra)high-resolution mass spectrometry, (micro)separation sciences, NMR spectroscopy, chemometrics, and (bio)informatics to describe complex organic systems from organisms or the environment at the molecular level. His work has led him to take an interest in the origins of life by studying prebiotic environments at the molecular level, and he participates in several sample return missions as part of the analytical teams at NASA and JAXA.
- 1In 2019, CNRS Institute of Chemistry has initiated a program called “Ambassadors of Chemical Sciences in France”. Its ambition is to give prestigious foreign researchers an opportunity to visit a series of French laboratories active in their field. These visits not only include top-notch conferences by the ambassador, but are also a good opportunity to establish preliminary contacts and foster international collaborations for the visited French laboratories.
Considerable effort is focused on high-resolution chemical mapping of human biofluids, with the aim of discovering new bioactive metabolites. Can you tell us more about your team's work in this field?
Our team develops and applies cutting-edge metabolomics technologies, such as FTICR-MS mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy, to map the chemistry of human biofluids at very high resolution. The idea is to reveal previously invisible molecular signatures that reflect the complex interactions between our cells, our microbiome, and our environment. For example, we have been able to identify molecules characteristic of certain bacteria in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. This work shows how our microbiome, influenced by diet, lifestyle, and even place of residence, actively participates in regulating our immune system and the onset of environment-related diseases such as allergies and asthma.
By studying the chemistry of biological fluids such as urine, blood, and exhaled air condensate, we seek to identify early markers of disease, well before clinical symptoms appear. This approach paves the way for more predictive and personalized medicine, where it would be possible to intervene earlier and in a more targeted manner. At the same time, we are exploring how certain molecules from food, probiotics, or spices could positively influence this chemistry and contribute to the prevention of disease. In short, our research aims to link metabolic dynamics to human health and transform this knowledge into concrete tools for the medicine of tomorrow.
What progress can we expect in this area over the next few years?
The coming years in biomedical research will be marked by the convergence of high-precision analytical technologies and artificial intelligence tools. Thanks to FTICR-MS mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy, we are already able to simultaneously analyze thousands of metabolites in hundreds of samples with exceptional speed and reliability. Data comparability, ensured by standardized quality controls, makes it possible to link the results of different studies over several years and thus obtain a reliable picture of the evolution of metabolic processes. AI will play an increasingly central role in this research by enabling the exploration of these massive data sets and facilitating the detection of subtle biomarkers, particularly in pan-genomic association studies. This approach opens up unprecedented opportunities for the early prediction and diagnosis of complex diseases.
Another particularly promising field of research concerns the study of non-enzymatic chemical reactions such as Maillard reactions, which occur in the body in a similar way to cooking. These processes can generate by-products involved in diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and chronic inflammation. Precisely decoding these mechanisms would not only give us a better understanding of the origin of these diseases, but also enable us to develop new targeted prevention and intervention strategies. These advances are set to transform the way we approach personalized medicine in the years to come.
As Ambassador for Chemical Sciences in France, do you have any particular expectations of this upcoming tour?
Meeting colleagues and their students, the next generation of researchers, in their workplace and initiating discussions about our joint research, to see how my team's expertise can contribute to advancing new flagship projects that explore the limits of our knowledge with the ultra-high-resolution tools at our disposal.
Editor : CCdM
Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin's lectures tour in France
- 16/09/2025 – Rouen – Institut CARMEN (contact: Carlos Afonso)
- 18/09/2025 – Poitiers – Institut de chimie des milieux et matériaux de Poitiers (contact: Pauline Poinot)
- 01/12/2025 – Paris – Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie (contact: Laurent Remusat)
- 05/12/2025 – Strasbourg – Institut pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (contact: Dimitri Heintz)
- 08/12/2025 – Nice – Institut de chimie de Nice (contact: Cornelia Meinert)
- 09/12/2025 – Marseille – Physique des interactions ioniques et moléculaires (contact: Grégoire Danger)
- 11/12/2025 – Bordeaux – Institut de chimie et de biologie des membranes et des nanoobjets (contact: Caroline Tokarski)
- 12/12/2025 – Toulouse – Laboratoire SOFMAT (contact: Alexandra Ter Halle)