The metabolome spans a wide range of small molecules with diverse chemistries, requiring multiple analytical approaches. The CoRE provides complementary mass spectrometry–based methods tailored to specific research questions.

• Targeted metabolomics focuses on predefined metabolite classes or pathways, using chemical standards for high-confidence annotations.
• Untargeted metabolomics captures all detectable features in a sample, with compound annotation based on spectral library matching.

Our semi-targeted platform enables annotation of 600+ individual lipid species covering 45 lipid subclasses (e.g., phosphatidylcholines, ceramides, triglycerides, etc.).

Stable isotope tracing provides a powerful view of active metabolism, revealing how metabolites are produced, transformed, and utilized within biological systems. By introducing labeled substrates (e.g., ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ²H), incorporation into downstream metabolites is detected by mass spectrometry, enabling quantification of pathway activity and metabolite turnover.

The CoRE offers end-to-end support, including experimental design, pathway selection, and sample handling to ensure high-quality data.

While standard metabolomics workflows provide relative quantitation, absolute quantitation enables measurement of true metabolite concentrations. This is achieved using calibration curves generated from known concentrations of chemical standards, allowing accurate quantification of metabolites in biological samples through regression analysis.

• Requires isotopically labeled internal standards to correct for matrix effects and instrument variability.
• Involves metabolite- and matrix-specific method development, including use of researcher-provided standards and pilot samples.