One area of increased technological innovation is metabolomics, the study of metabolites. Researchers are now inventing new approaches to metabolomic research and engineering whole new, technological platforms. Much of this is due to increased awareness of just how much the work stands to benefit mankind in general. New studies of the metabolome in recent years have illustrated with increasing efficacy how invaluable an understanding of the human metabolome might be for discovering new diagnostic biomarkers or new therapeutic solutions. Clinical applications are practically endless, which is why Assay Development focuses on it.

Scientists are learning now more than ever how many methods they can take to expand metabolomics as a field, and some believe metabolomics is more or less the future of healthcare. To make the most of it, though, private companies are taking a lot of different approaches. "The metabolites we're dealing with have vast differences in chemical properties, which means you need multi-platform approaches and various types of instrumentation," according to the Francis Crick Institute's Head of Metabolomics, James MacRae, Ph.D. Based in London, he adds, "We can either use an untargeted approach — trying to measure as much as possible, generating a metabolic profile — or else a more targeted approach where we are focusing on specific metabolites or pathways."

It wasn't very long ago that a multi-platform approach was unheard of, but new diagnostic technologies have made it a possibility. That means it's also possible to analyze different metabolomes within an individual, and scientists think that could be a major game-changer when it comes to being able to engineer multi-biomarker assays for medical labs. That would mark a big step, and it's where the field is headed thus far. Metabolomics is a field in which biotechnology is used for simulation purposes as well, rendering real-time models of an organism's entire physiology just based on disparities between biological samples; they differentiate between samples via metabolite features.

"Metabolomics is the attempt to measure all of the metabolites in a cell or biosystem," MacRae says. "You have tens of thousands of genes, of which tens of thousands will be expressed — and you also have the proteins expressed from them, which will then also be modified in different ways. And all of these things impact on a relatively small number of metabolites — in the thousands rather than the tens of thousands. Because of that, it's a very sensitive output for the health or physiology of your sample." He also adds, though, that the field "has great potential for application in most, if not all, diseases — from diabetes, heart disease, cancer HIV, autoimmune disease, parasitology, and host-pathogen interactions."

That's why Assay Development is presently focusing on metabolic profiling to improve the detection, prevention, and treatment of diseases. Also based in London, the National Phenome Centre is funded by both the National Institute for Health Research and the Medical Research Council. This institutional backing is all going toward bioanalytical, metabolics-related, client-centric research solutions. The NPC uses quadrupole time-of-light (Qtof) mass spectrometry technology for discovery, and they act on targeted assays with tandem quadrupole devices. They validate findings in the NPC's discovery platform, and this allows for high-throughput analysis and a concentration on understanding how diseases actually work.

The NPC now has the savvy and requisite biotech to analyze metabolites for individual biochemical one at a time, and concurrently, they can perform broad profiling via multiple assays. Various methods can account for disparate physiochemical properties looked for in metabolites. Warwick Dunn is the senior lecturer for metabolomics at the University of Birmingham, and he also serves as the director of mass spectrometry at the Phenome Center Birmingham, Additionally, he's co-director of the Birmingham Metabolomics Training Center also based in the UK. He says, "Our genome is generally static and says what might happen in the future."

This speaks to the crux of the importance of metabolomics and its related technologies, which are enhancing research in the field rather rapidly. Dunn adds that "the metabolome at the other end is the opposite — very dynamic, saying what just happened or could be about to happen. So, we could apply it to identify prognostic biomarkers, for example, to predict if someone is at a greater risk of developing diabetes five to ten years from now. And if you know that, you can change their lifestyle or environment to try and prevent it."

Dun's is the stance that starts with the understanding that people are all different and that we all respond differently to different drugs. In light of that, arguably the greatest potential for metabolomics from Dunn's perspective is the ability to make more informed decisions about which treatment to choose for which patient. "We know we're all very different and we don't respond to drugs in the same way, so we could potentially use metabolomics to help select the best treatment for each individual."

[researchpaper 리서치페이퍼=​Cedric Dent 기자]