Quality assurance and quality control processes: Summary of a metabolomics community questionnaire

Published

March 6, 2017

Author(s)

Warwick Dunn, David Broadhurst, Arthur S. Edison, Mark Viant, Dan Bearden, Richard Beger, Claude Guillou

Abstract

The Metabolomics Society Data Quality Task Group (DQTG) developed a questionnaire regarding quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) to provide baseline information about current QA and QC practices applied in the international metabolomics community. QA was defined as the set of procedures that are performed in advance of analysis of samples and that are used to improve data quality. QC was defined as the set of activities that a laboratory does during or immediately after analysis that are meant to demonstrate the quality of project data. The DQTG questionnaire received 97 individual responses from 84 institutions in all fields of metabolomics covering NMR, LC-MS, GC-MS, and other analytical technologies. There was a vast range of responses concerning the use of QA and QC approaches that included the limited availability of suitable training, lack of SOPs to review and make decisions on quality, and limited use of standard reference materials (SRMs) as QC materials. The DQTG QA/QC questionnaire has for the first time demonstrated that QA and QC usage is not uniform across metabolomics laboratories. Here we present recommendations on how to address the issues concerning QA and QC measurements and reporting in metabolomics.

Citation

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry

Issue

13

Pub Type

Journals

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DOI Link

Keywords

Metabolomics, Quality

Citation

Dunn, W. , Broadhurst, D. , Edison, A. , Viant, M. , Bearden, D. , Beger, R. and Guillou, C. (2017), Quality assurance and quality control processes: Summary of a metabolomics community questionnaire, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, [online], https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-017-1188-9 (Accessed January 2, 2025)