The Future of Metabolomic Profiling in Population-Based Research: Opportunities and Challenges

Metabolomics is an approach that employs technologies to measure small molecule metabolites in biological samples, thus providing epidemiologists and other investigators with a means to discover biomarkers of disease risk, diagnosis, and prognosis. To advance the field of metabolomics, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is investing $65 million through the NIH Common Fund’s Metabolomics Program, which will support comprehensive metabolomics resource cores, training in metabolomics, metabolomics technology development, metabolomics reference standards synthesis, and data sharing and international collaboration. While this infrastructure will be essential, there remain several challenges to broad implementation of metabolomics in population-based studies. To facilitate the use of metabolomics in population-based studies, the NIH-sponsored ‘Think Tank on the Use of Metabolomics in Population-Based Research’ was held to discuss the current opportunities and challenges of the field and identify potential solutions and/or strategies to address challenges. Insights and conclusions gained from the Think Tank are summarized here.