Standardisation of targeted and untargeted metabolomic quantitative methods for their future use in routine clinical diagnosis

Healthcare is moving away from ‘one size fits all’ approaches and embracing personalised medicine. To tailor care to patients’ specific biology, doctors require a holistic knowledge of the biological processes and states in the patient’s body, guided by so-called ‘omics’ approaches. Metabolomics studies metabolites, the biochemical molecules related to the body’s metabolic function. Metabolites are affected by both genetic and environmental factors, such as diet or reaction to medication, and so can offer dynamic insights into overall health. Metabolomics rely on advanced methods, such as mass spectrometry (MS), to provide quantitative measurements of hundreds to thousands of molecules. However, a lack of metrology, including measurement procedures, calibration materials and computational methods mean these have limited application outside of research settings.

This project will strengthen Europe’s metabolomics capability by developing new methods and calibration materials. The project will establish reference measurement systems to improve comparability between metabolomic methods, including calibration standards as well as matrix reference materials. The project will also develop approaches to standardise metabolomic measurement methods, including calibration strategies and methods for digitising signals using machine learning. Finally, the project will work with EU omics facilities to ensure the developed approaches meet the requirements of ISO 15189 “Medical laboratories — Requirements for quality and competence”, and to evaluate their suitability.

The work of this project will help to move metabolomics out of the research lab and into clinical settings, giving doctors new tools to provide personalised care to patients and improve healthcare outcomes across Europe.