Quick tips to perform a metabolomics study

Nascent, burgeoning, youngest, ‘connecting link between genotype and phenotype’ are just some of the phrases associated with this ‘omics’ where small molecules (metabolites with molecular weight < 2000 Daltons) are studied in biological systems, i.e., metabolomics. Currently, due to recent advances in the field, metabolomics has demanded large attention from scientists as it has shown tremendous potential in basic research such as the study interaction of ‘omes’ and the discovery of new biochemical pathways. Other areas of impact include metabolic regulation, disease biomarker identification, personalized medicine, clinical trials, toxicology, nutrigenomics, medicine diagnosis, and agriculture. Also included are industrial applications such as metabolic engineering in strain improvement in microbes. Here, the attempt is to get the scientific community interested and excited about the potential use of metabolomics in their existing research areas, by widening its dimensions to another level of data-oriented science leading to better interpretation and understanding of the function and behavior of organisms. Nonetheless, while excellent pioneering reviews and extremely successful studies exist in metabolomics, a summary and/or overview of this area is lacking at this moment. Thus, the target audience are not only researchers who are venturing into metabolomics, but also early career researchers, investigators, students, and individuals interested in implementing metabolomics in their current research and field. Typically, study design to publication can span from months to years in some cases, but without a general grasp of how beneficial and easy to implement metabolomics can be, further inquiry into the field may be mistakenly overlooked. I attempt to summarize and encapsulate the ‘usual’ trends in such efforts, identifying the critical steps to make the trends all fit into these quick tips. The objective of this article is to provide a bird’s eye view of metabolomics research that can be enjoyed over a mug of coffee while simultaneously providing an outline for a variety of audiences interested in incorporating this fascinating field in their work.