Techniques and Services
Metabolomics is the global assessment and validation of endogenous small-molecule biochemical (metabolites) within a biological system. Metabolite detection and quantification is usually carried out by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy while mass spectrometry provides another highly sensitive metabolomics technology.
The NMR-based Metabolomics Core at Cincinnati Children's provides all NMR-related metabolomics services on human and animal cells, biopsies, and body fluids. Various metabolic biomarkers, related to glycolysis, mitochondrial citric acid cycle, choline, phospholipids and fatty acid metabolism, have recently been reported to play important roles in cancer development and responsiveness to anti-cancer treatment using NMR-based metabolic profiling.
The NMR-based Metabolomics Core is fully equipped to study multiple aspects of NMR, including 1H, 13C, and two-dimensional studies. We have performed expanded quantitative metabolic analysis on:
- Cells extracts/Cell secretions (media)
- Human and animal tissues and biopsy extracts
- Body fluids (including blood, plasma, serum, urine, cerebral/pancreatic/prostatic fluids, etc.)
Services
- Project Design and Consultation: Recommendations and advice on end points to be monitored, budget, and suggestions for data analysis
- Sample Handling and Extraction for NMR-Based Metabolomics: Protocols for tissue, body fluids and cell extraction, protocols and equipment for sample lyophilization and complete sample workup for NMR data acquisition. Sample storage is also available.
- We will provide all users with carefully designed and validated protocols for sample handling and extraction. We always extract cells, blood, tissue samples prior to quantitative NMR analysis. No extraction is required for urine, extracted cerebral/pancreatic/prostatic fluids, or saliva.
- NMR-Based Metabolomics Protocols: Structure determination based on two-dimensional NMR and use of extensive metabolite libraries (Chenomx NMR Suite) are used for metabolite identification. Specially designed one-dimensional NMR programs are used for precise metabolite quantification and various statistical analyses packages are available to perform principal component analysis (PCA), linear regression, and additional mathematical algorithms on metabolic data sets
- Data Analysis and Publication Preparation/Assistance
- Grant Boilerplates
- Data Handling and Storage
