Resource Center for Stable Isotope-Resolved Metabolomics - Administrative Supplement

The lack of common standards of data acquisition and reporting in metabolomics is problematic for future routine use of these technologies. In order to determine whether different analytical platforms and experimental approaches provide concordant results, ring trials must be conducted. The ultimate objective is to establish a set of common standards for the entire metabolomic process, from sample acquisition and storage through metabolite extraction to data recording, reduction and analysis. The establishment of standards will be guided by findings reported from the initial ring trial. The proposed ring trial combines an assessment of analytical capability (identification of compounds and relative quantification levels of spiked-in standards) as well as metabolomics capability for identifying metabolites that discriminate two groups, such as case and control. RCSIRM at the University of Kentucky will analyze the plasma samples using three orthogonal platforms to cover polar and non-polar metabolites as well as cross validate. The Specific Aims are as follows. SA1:To determine the amounts of polar metabolites in blood plasma samples by GC-MS and NMR; SA2: To determine the relative amounts of non–polar metabolites by direct infusion FT-MS; SA3: To determine the quantitative differences between control and treated samples. The data obtained will provide estimates of the analytical variance from the different methods and of platforms, which will then be pooled with the data obtained from the other ring trial participants to assess wider issues of analytical and platform variance, as well as how sample handling impacts the estimates of free and total concentrations in a complex matrix.