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Summary
The Metabolomics Quality Assurance and Quality Control Materials (MetQual) Program demonstrates and improves the comparability of metabolomics measurements for industry, government, and academic laboratories through the use of NIST Reference Materials and Data (RMDs). RMDs serve as quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) materials for routine metabolomic measurements, differential studies, interlaboratory comparisons, laboratory and instrument qualification, and training for the metabolomics community. Furthermore, these RMDs are assessed by both NIST evaluations and community-based interlaboratory comparisons.
Description
Metabolomics, a rapidly growing field of systems biology, is expanding beyond human health and precision medicine to encompass areas such as food science, biomanufacturing, and forensic investigation. Analytical techniques include both targeted identification and quantification of metabolites and non-targeted spectral profiling for identification of molecular signatures indicative of specific characteristics. Metabolomics studies are complex and influenced by a variety of factors that can affect experimental outcomes. Additionally, discrepancies in analytical data output by instruments can hinder interpretation of the biological systems being studied. Therefore, it is essential to incorporate quality assurance and quality control materials in metabolomics research to ensure reliable and accurate results.
Many laboratories develop their own quality assurance and quality control materials to ensure consistency within their laboratory. However, these materials are usually not suitable for comparability across multiple laboratories, which is necessary for commercial translation of metabolomic findings. A need exists for a large supply of stable QA/QC materials that can be used both within individual metabolomics studies and measurement campaigns, as well as across various studies and laboratories. Regular use of such materials will result in the standardization of the metabolomics field in its application across academic research, diagnostics and testing laboratories, and various bio-relevant industrial processes.
Objective
The purpose of the MetQual program is to provide affordable, stable, homogenous QA/QC materials to meet the needs of the metabolomics community. The goal is for these materials and their associated data (RMDs) to be evaluated by both NIST and the metabolomics community via interlaboratory comparison exercises, with a focus on qualitative characterization (i.e., identification of detected metabolites and discriminant metabolite fold changes). These RMDs could serve as valuable materials to harmonize measurements.
Contact
Met Qual Program Coordinators, metqual [at] nist.gov (metqual[at]nist[dot]gov)