According to Wikipedia:
Metabolomics is the scientific study of chemical processes involving metabolites, the small molecule substrates, intermediates and products of metabolism. Specifically, metabolomics is the “systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind”, the study of their small-molecule metabolite profiles. The metabolome represents the complete set of metabolites in a biological cell, tissue, organ or organism, which are the end products of cellular processes.
The potential applications to health and longevity are immense.
A new collaboration between Metabolon, the Canadian Frailty Network, the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging (CLSA), and the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging highlights a unique application of metabolomics. The project will focus on biomarkers of frailty in aging to determine the severity of frailty and what can be done to help avoid the condition. It will use samples from Canada’s largest comprehensive study on aging to generate metabolomic profiles and identify biomarkers.
The CLSA is a research platform focusing on aging in 50,000 Canadians. Its goal is to identify the biological mechanisms of frailty, which previously have not been well understood.
Metabolon’s scientific director, Greg Michelotti, PhD, says the initial analysis will focus on baseline samples from 10,000 participants from the CLSA analyzed for metabolomic and inflammatory biomarkers linked to frailty. Detailed lifestyle and clinical information will be combined with metabolomic analyses to uncover disease mechanisms and deepen researchers’ understanding of disease progression across a wide range of conditions.