Metabolomics
Metabolomics
Program Resources
The Common Fund Metabolomics Program supported multiple capacity-building initiatives, and resources available to the community include those described here. All resources developed by the program can be found at the Metabolomics Workbench.
The Metabolomics Program has transitioned from Common Fund support. For more information, please visit https://commonfund.nih.gov/metabolomics.
Please note that since the Metabolomics Program is no longer supported by the Common Fund, the program website is being maintained as an archive and will not be updated on a regular basis.
Metabolomics Program Resources Can Facilitate Health Disparities Research
The Metabolomics Program developed resources that the scientific community can use to support research on health disparities and minority health. The goal of the Metabolomics program was to establish resources to facilitate the incorporation of metabolomics into biomedical research. The program developed the National Metabolomics Data Repository, which houses over 2,000 studies from more than 40 countries. The repository contains studies on diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect minority groups, including cancer, diabetes, obesity, and asthma. Some of the studies also include participants who are underrepresented in biomedical research, including studies investigating metabolites associated with pregnancy, COVID-19, and prostate cancer.
To identify studies with underrepresented participants, researchers can search the repository using terms for the groups of interest; more information on the demographic characteristics of study participants, including race, ethnicity, and gender, may be available in metadata associated with the study. Most of the studies in the database are open to the public and available for download. The scientific community can analyze data contained within the repository via the Metabolomics Workbench.
The Metabolomics Program also funded six metabolomics resources cores that provide fee-based services to scientists seeking assistance with incorporating metabolomics into their research (see below for a list of the resource cores).
Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Resource Cores (RCMRCs)
Six regional comprehensive metabolomics resource cores (RCMRCs) have been funded by the Metabolomics program. The RCMRCs provide metabolomics services to the greater research community.
Learn More about the RCMRCs
- NIH West Coast Metabolomics Center at UC Davis (WC3MRC)
- Michigan Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Research Core (MRC)2
- NIH Eastern Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Resource Core (ERCMRC)
- An overview of services can be found here
- Southeast Center for Integrated Metabolomics (SECIM)
- Center for Environmental and Systems and Biochemistry at University of Kentucky
- This core is both fee-for-service and collaboration-based
- Metabolomics Core at Mayo Clinic
Metabolomics Data Access
The Metabolomics Workbench provides public access to a data repository, which allows researchers to upload, search, and analyze metabolomics data via online interfaces. The repository can accommodate a variety of metabolite analyses, including, but not limited to MS and NMR. In order to ensure reproducibility and interoperable use of data, experimental metadata is required to be deposited along with the metabolite measurements. Please read these tutorials for more information on data deposition.
A metabolite database containing structures and annotations of more than 61,000 biologically relevant metabolites, collected from public repositories such as LIPID MAPS, ChEMBL, and PubChem, is also available at the Metabolomics Workbench.
Technology and Tools
The Common Fund Metabolomics program developed technologies and tools to:
- Improve how samples are obtained, prepared, and handled
- Increase the accuracy and precision of metabolomics dectectors
- Web-based tools for metabolite identification and structure drawing
- Analysis and visualization of spectral libraries
- Make data handling and analysis more robust
More information on metabolomics technologies and tools can be found at the Metabolomics Workbench. In addition, protocols for general and specific metabolomics studies may also be accessed.
Training Opportunities
The Metabolomics Workbench provides online materials for archived training opportunities on basic and advanced metabolomics research.
