#402 ‒ NMR blood analysis: how heart disease risk, insulin resistance, inflammation, and mortality risk can be assessed from a single blood sample | Jim Otvos, Ph.D.

Jim Otvos, Ph.D., is a biophysical chemist who pioneered the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to measure lipoprotein particles from plasma. He returns to the podcast to discuss how NMR technology can be used to assess heart disease risk, insulin resistance, inflammation, and mortality risk from a single blood sample.

The Origin of Lipoprotein Particle Testing

Dr. Otvos recounts how his journey into lipoprotein particle testing began serendipitously. In 1986, a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine claimed that a simple NMR test could detect cancer. Intrigued, Dr. Otvos, then an academic physical chemist, obtained plasma samples from a local hospital and ran them through his NMR machine. He discovered that the signals were not indicative of cancer, but rather reflected differences in lipoprotein levels, specifically triglycerides and HDL cholesterol. This finding led to a pivotal moment where he realized the potential of NMR to measure lipoprotein concentrations.

Initially, the goal was to differentiate between VLDL, LDL, and HDL particles. However, with funding from Siemens Medical Systems, Dr. Otvos and his team discovered they could not only differentiate these major lipoprotein classes but also their different-sized subspecies. This was a significant breakthrough, as previous methods for lipoprotein subfractionation were laborious and not clinically translatable.