Giebelhaus Lab @ UVic

Research Interests and Projects

The Giebelhaus Lab is interested in 3 major research themes spanning multiple facets of science:

Theme 1: Chemometrics and chemoinformatics:

We are interested in developing new algorithms for extracting information from chemical systems, using both linear and non-linear machine learning techniques. This includes developing new approaches to process raw chromatographic data, to extract and select features, and to build predictive models. We generally apply these outputs to metabolomics and multidimensional separations (LC×LC and GC×GC), but they will have widespread applications in other fields including spectroscopy and environmental chemistry. We are also using chemometrics, machine learning, and chemoinformatics to develop innovative strategies to map the dark metabolome.

Theme 2: Multidimensional separations for metabolomics:

Comprehensive two-dimensional separations (LC×LC and GC×GC) are extremely powerful and often underutilized in metabolomics. We are interested in developing these techniques, specifically LC×LC-MS to enable deep profiling of the metabolome in numerous biological samples. We are pushing this field forward by applying outputs from Theme 1 to develop automated quality control and separation optimization workflows for LC×LC.

Theme 3: Untargeted metabolomics:

We are interested in applying techniques from themes 1 and 2 to study various biological phenomena and answer complex questions in metabolism and chemistry. We have a number of projects currently underway, including investigating the adulteration of natural products using LC-MS and spectroscopy, studying the metabolism and uptake of herbicide metabolites in plants, and studying the impacts of legacy contamination in ocean ecosystems.

Publications (Last Updated April 29, 2026)

See all publications on Google Scholar here.

‡ Denotes equal authorship

  1. Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Michael Herold, James J. Harynuk, David E. Alonso, Bashar Amer, Corey D. Broeckling, Pantelis Charisiadis, Raquel Cumeras, A. Paulina de la Mata, Warwick Dunn, Flavio A. Franchina, Helen Gika, Jennifer A. Kirwan, Isabella H. Muti, Lukáš Najdekr, Estelle Pujos-Guillot, Pierre-Hugues Stefanuto, Teresa Steininger-Mairinger, Alpesh Thakker, and Oliver Fiehn, Analytical Chemistry, 2026, 10.1021/acs.analchem.5c06918
  2. Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Sheri A. Schmidt, Seo Lin Nam, A. Paulina de la Mata, Paul R. Shipley, and James J. Harynuk. Variable selection for analytical chemistry data (Book Chapter), Problem-Oriented Analytical Chemistry Driven by Chemometrics, 2026, Chapter 9, pp. 203-218, 10.1016/B978-0-443-22163-7.00014-0
  3. Pawanjit K. Sandhu, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Ryan Hayward, Tingting Zhao, Alix Tucker, Daniel Gaudet, Tao Huan, and Susan J. Murch. AminoacidDB: a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based toolkit for the untargeted analysis of non-protein amino acids, Analyst, 2026, 10.1039/D5AN01248A
  4. Dina Kao, Karen Wong, Christine Lee, Theodor Steiner, Rose Franz, Chelsea McDougall, Marisela Silva, Thomas SB Schmidt, Jens Walter, Raimar Loebenberg, Tanya M Monaghan, Ryland T Giebelhaus, James J Harynuk, Huiping Xu, Maryna Yaskina, Karen V MacDonald, Deborah A Marshall, and Thomas Louie. Effects of lyophilized fecal filtrate compared with lyophilized donor stool on Clostridioides difficile recurrence: a multi-center, randomized, double-blinded trial, The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 2025, 10(11). 10.1016/S2468-1253(25)00190-6
  5. J.A. Barnett, J.K. Josephson, E. Yuzbashian, N. Haskey, M.M. Hart, K.K. Soma, A. Verdugo, C.J. McComb, M.L. Bandy, S. Ghosh, C. Letef, A. Copp, R. Ishida, J. Gibon, J. Ye, R.T. Giebelhaus, S.J. Murch, M.M. Jung, and D.L. Gibson. Prenatal exposure to dietary levels of glyphosate disrupts metabolic, immune, and behavioral markers across generations in mice, Science of the Total Environment, 2025, 1002(180437). 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180437
  6. Alejandro Ponce-Mora, Lucia Gimeno-Mallench, José Luis Lavandera, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Alicia Domenech-Bendaña, Antonella Locascio, Irene Gutierrez-Rojas, Salvatore Sauro, Paulina de la Mata, Seo Lin Nam, Vanessa Méril-Mamert, Muriel Sylvestre, James J. Harynuk, Gerardo Cebrián-Torrejón, and Eloy Bejarano. Systematic Characterization of Antioxidant Shielding Capacity Against Oxidative Stress of Aerial Part Extracts of Anacardium occidentale, Antioxidants, 2025, 14(8). 10.3390/antiox14080935
  7. Ninfa Vera de Bilbao, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Ryan P. Dias, Maria Elena Ferreira, Miguel Martínez, Lorea Velasco-Carneros, Seo Lin Nam, A. Paulina de la Mata, Jean-Didier Maréchal, Ahissan Innocent Adou, Gloria Yaluff, Elva Serna, Muriel Sylvestre, Susana Torres, Alicia Schinini, Ricardo Galeano, Alain Fournet, James J. Harynuk, and Gerardo Cebrián-Torrejón. Exploring the Anti-Chagas Activity of Zanthoxylum chiloperone’s Seedlings Through Metabolomics and Protein–Ligand Docking, Plants, 2025, 14(6). 10.3390/plants14060954
  8. Mohamed Shaheen, Chelsea McDougall, Leona Chan, Rose Franz, Karen Wong, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Gwen Nguyen, Seo Lin Nam, A. Paulina de la Mata, Sam Yeo, James J. Harynuk, Sepideh Pakpour, Huiping Xu, and Dina Kao. Impact of Fecal Microbiota Transplant Formulations, Storage Conditions, and Duration on Bacterial Viability, Functionality, and Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Recurrent Clostridioides difficile Infection, Microorganisms, 2025, 13(3). 10.3390/microorganisms13030587
  9. Seo Lin Nam, Kieran S. Tarazona Carrillo, A. Paulina de la Mata, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Olle M. de Bruin, Evgueni Doukhanine, and James J. Harynuk. Evaluation of solutions for stabilizing feces in metabolomics studies using GC×GC-TOFMS, Metabolomics, 2025, 21, 31. 10.1007/s11306-025-02232-4
  10. Ming Kei Chung, John S House, Farida S Akhtari, Konstantinos C Makris, Michael A Langston, Khandaker Talat Islam, Philip Holmes, Marc Chadeau-Hyam, Alex I Smirnov, Xiuxia Du, Anne E Thessen, Yuxia Cui, Kai Zhang, Arjun K Manrai, Alison Motsinger-Reif, Chirag J Patel, and Members of the Exposomics Consortium (Ryland T. Giebelhaus (as a member)). Decoding the exposome: data science methodologies and implications in exposome-wide association studies (ExWASs), Exposome, 2024, 4(1); 10.1093/exposome/osae001
  11. Jonathan P Mochel, Jessica L Ward, Thomas Blondel, Debosmita Kundu, Maria M Merodio, Claudine Zemirline, Emilie Guillot, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Paulina de la Mata, Chelsea A Iennarella-Servantez, April Blong, Seo Lin Nam, James J Harynuk, Jan Suchodolski, Asta Tvarijonaviciute, José Joaquín Cerón, Agnes Bourgois-Mochel, Faiez Zannad, Naveed Sattar, and Karin Allenspach. Preclinical modeling of metabolic syndrome to study the pleiotropic effects of novel antidiabetic therapy independent of obesity, Scientific Reports, 2024, 14, 20665; 10.1038/s41598-024-71202-y
  12. Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Gwen Nguyen, Sheri A. Schmidt, Seoin Wang, Ewenet Y. Misfin, Seo Lin Nam, A. Paulina de la Mata, and James J. Harynuk. GC×GC-TOFMS Analysis of Fecal Metabolome Stabilized Using an At-Home Stool Collection Device, Applied Biosciences, 2024; 3(3). 10.3390/applbiosci3030023
  13. Stephanie L. Bishop‡, Julia T. Solonenka‡, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, David T. R. Bakker, Isaac T. S. Li, and Susan J. Murch. Microbial Diversity Impacts Non-Protein Amino Acid Production in Cyanobacterial Bloom Cultures Collected from Lake Winnipeg, Toxins, 2024; 16(4). 10.3390/toxins16040169
  14. Thomas Head‡, Ryland T. Giebelhaus‡, Seo Lin Nam, A. Paulina de la Mata, James J. Harynuk, and Paul R. Shipley. Discriminating Extra Virgin Olive Oils from Common Edible Oils: Comparable Performance of PLS-DA Models Trained on Low-Field and High-Field 1H NMR Data, Phytochemical Analysis, 2024; 1-8. 10.1002/pca.3348
  15. Seo Lin Nam, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Kieran S. Tarazona Carrillo, A. Paulina de la Mata, and James J. Harynuk. Evaluation of normalization strategies for GC‐based metabolomics, Metabolomics, 2024, 20:22, 10.1007/s11306-023-02086-8
  16. Nuttanee Tungkijanansin, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Sheri A. Schmidt, Thumnoon Nhujak, Kaywalee Chatdarong, Pattama Torvorapanit, James J. Harynuk, and Chadin Kulsing. Identification of Coronavirus Disease Marker Compounds in Sweat with Comprehensive Two Dimensional Gas Chromatography Using Multiloop Splitter-Based Non-cryogenic Artificial Trapping Modulation System, Journal of Chromatography Open, 2024, 100113; 10.1016/j.jcoa.2023.100113
  17. Valendy Thesnor, Roland Molinié, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, A. Paulina de la Mata, James J. Harynuk, David Bénimélis, Muriel Sylvestre, Yvens Cheremond, Patrick Meffre, Gerardo Cebrián-Torrejón, and Zohra Benfodda. Antibacterial activity and untargeted metabolomics profiling of Acalypha arvensis Poepp, Molecules, 2023, 28, 7882; 10.3390/molecules28237882
  18. Ryland T. Giebelhaus, A. Paulina de la Mata, and James J. Harynuk. Region of Interest Selection for GC×GC-MS Data using a Pseudo Fisher Ratio Moving Window with Connected Components Segmentation, Journal of Chromatography Open, 2023, 100104; 10.1016/j.jcoa.2023.100104
  19. Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Kieran Tarazona Carrillo, Seo Lin Nam, A. Paulina de la Mata, Juan F. Araneda, Paul Hui, Jonathan Ma, and James J. Harynuk. Detection of common adulterants in olive oils by bench top 60 MHz 1H NMR with partial least squares regression, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 2023, 105465; 10.1016/j.jfca.2023.105465
  20. Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Laura Biggs, Susan J. Murch, and Lauren A.E. Erland. Untargeted and targeted metabolomics to understand plant growth regulation and evolution in Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), Botany, 2023, 101(9): 377-390.; 10.1139/cjb-2023-0017
  21. Katharina Völlmecke, Rowshon Afroz, Sascha Bierbach, Lee Josephine Brenker, Sebastian Frücht, Alexandra Glass, Ryland Giebelhaus, Axel Hoppe, Karen Kanemaru, Michal Lazarek, Lukas Rabbe, Longfei Song, Andrea Velasco Suarez, Shuang Wu, Michael Serpe, and Dirk Kuckling. Hydrogel-Based Biosensors, Gels, 2022, 8, 787; 10.3390/gels8120768
  22. Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Lauren A.E. Erland, and Susan J. Murch. HormonomicsDB: a novel workflow for the untargeted analysis of plant growth regulators and hormones. F1000Research, 2022, 11:1191; 10.12688/f1000research.124194.1
  23. Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Michael D. Sorochan Armstrong, A. Paulina de la Mata, and James J. Harynuk. Untargeted region of interest selection for gas chromatography - mass spectrometry data using a pseudo F-ratio moving window, Journal of Chromatography A, 2022, 1682, 463499; 10.1016/j.chroma.2022.463499
  24. Lauren A.E. Erland, Ryland T. Giebelhaus, Jerrin M.R. Victor, Susan J. Murch, and Praveen K. Saxena. The Morphoregulatory Role of Thidiazuron: Metabolomics-Guided Hypothesis Generation for Mechanisms of Activity, Biomolecules, 2020, 10(9), 1253; 10.3390/biom10091253

Media and Press

  • MetaboInterview: CanMetCon 2023 Awardees: Article and video interview with MetaboNews discussing my poster which won first place at the 2023 Canadian Metabolomics Conference (CanMetCon 2023).
  • Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships: Feature article on The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC) website announcing my CIHR CGS-D.
  • Interview with TMIC Young Scientists: Interview by The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC) where I discussed my talk at the 2022 Metabolomics Association of North America (MANA) conference.