Metabolomics
Material studied: Small molecules, hormones
Methods used: Mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Metabolites—small molecule products of cellular activity—represent a diverse array of molecule classes. Metabolomics, the study of metabolite profiles, provides a snapshot of the ‘health status’ of cells, tissues or organisms at a specific point in time.
Besides its use in detecting disease- or drug toxicity-related changes in the cell, metabolomic profiling of organisms such as plants and fungi may also be used to monitor environmental health.
