RESEARCH FIELD

Metabolomics

Metabolomics characterizes the complete set of small-molecule metabolites in a biological sample—the metabolome—providing a real-time chemical snapshot of cellular physiology. Mass spectrometry platforms detect thousands of compounds in a single analysis, capturing signatures of drug metabolism, disease biomarkers, and dietary exposures. Stable isotope tracing tracks how carbons from labeled glucose or glutamine flow through metabolic pathways, revealing rewiring in cancer metabolism. Population-scale metabolomics studies identify metabolite biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk years before clinical symptoms. The exposome concept extends metabolomics to environmental chemical exposures, integrating environmental and genomic data to understand disease etiology. Clinical metabolomics is entering routine diagnosis for rare inborn errors of metabolism.