Advances in Metabolomics for Precision Medicine: From Biomarker Discovery to Clinical Applications

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Endocrinology and Clinical Metabolic Research".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 501

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Metabolon, Inc., Morrisville, NC 27560, USA
Interests: precision medicine; metabolomics; autoimmune diseases; infectious diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Metabolon, Inc., Morrisville, NC 27560, USA
Interests: cardiometabolic diseases; population health; endocrine diseases

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Although clinical chemistry analyses such as fasting plasma glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, and the components of the basic and complete metabolic panels serve as the backbone for preliminary patient analyses, the development of more advanced tests means that they are beginning to be used to diagnose patients. Currently, standard assays such as the lipid panel which provides high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglyceride, and cholesterol levels provide an overall assessment of the potential presence of a disease linked to lipid metabolism in patients.  Metabolomics can provide additional information regarding a greater number of molecules and the speciation of molecules, which can provide additional insight into the presence of disease by identifying biochemical trajectories earlier in the disease onset process and providing additional insight into the presence of a specific disease. For example, metabolomics and lipidomic signatures not only provide cholesterol levels but also information on bile acids, free fatty acids, acylcarnitines, ketone bodies, sterols, steroid hormones, and higher-molecular-weight lipid species such as mono-, di-, and triacylglycerols, cholesterol esters, sphingolipids, and others. This more comprehensive assessment from a single, low-volume sample can provide insight into multiple different disease mechanisms and these same molecules can be leveraged to characterize therapeutic (medicinal and nutritional) interventions once patients are diagnosed and treated. Metabolomics can be applied to cardiometabolic diseases, hormonal dysfunction (e.g. thyroid diseases), neurological diseases, autoimmune diseases, diseases of the digestive system, and others. A patient’s metabolomic profile is not just driven by their genotype, but also by their nutritional intake and environmental and lifestyle choices. Understanding the implications of each of these contributors is of central importance to understanding a patient’s phenotype, not only to monitor human health but also to identify new biomarkers of disease and to monitor therapeutic interventions for those diseases. 

This Special Issue of Metabolites entitled “Advances in Metabolomics for Precision Medicine: From Biomarker Discovery to Clinical Applications” will be dedicated to identifying and addressing the most current challenges and successes in utilizing metabolomics independently or alongside other ‘omics’ technologies for diagnosing diseases and following patients post intervention to treat their disease. In addition to clinical studies, basic research including animal models and cell culture studies will also be included to provide a robust picture of the latest results in the field. New bioinformatics approaches for data analysis and tools to analyze large data sets are of interest and will also be considered for this Special Issue.

Dr. Adam D. Kennedy
Dr. Greg Michelotti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • metabolomics
  • precision medicine
  • clinical disease
  • biomarkers
  • therapeutics
  • clinical metabolomics
  • nutrition
  • functional medicine

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 3191 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Fatty Acid Concentrations Among Blood Matrices
by Ysphaneendra Mallimoggala, Monalisa Biswas, Leslie Edward S. Lewis, Vijetha Shenoy Belle, Arjun Asok and Varashree Bolar Suryakanth
Metabolites 2025, 15(7), 482; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo15070482 (registering DOI) - 17 Jul 2025
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Fatty acids, the building blocks of lipids, contribute to numerous crucial life processes and are implicated in numerous disease pathologies. Circulating fatty acids can be extracted/trans-esterified to their respective methyl ester forms and quantified from a variety of biological samples. This [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Fatty acids, the building blocks of lipids, contribute to numerous crucial life processes and are implicated in numerous disease pathologies. Circulating fatty acids can be extracted/trans-esterified to their respective methyl ester forms and quantified from a variety of biological samples. This study aims to identify quantifiable fatty acids (through alkali trans-esterification) in human circulation, assess the correlation of the detectable fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) compounds between whole blood, serum and plasma matrices and propose the most ideal matrix for quantification of FAMEs. Methods: This anonymised study was carried out in a tertiary hospital after obtaining ethical approval and involved analysis of residual fasting whole blood, serum and plasma samples obtained from 20 apparently healthy subjects attending the routine health check services at the study centre. Fatty acids were converted to its methyl ester form by methanolic KOH trans-esterification and subjected to GCMS analysis. Paired t test, Pearsons’s correlation, linear regression and Bland Altman test were employed to assess the agreeability between matrices. Results: 9 out of 37 FAME compounds were detected in all three matrices. Strong correlations and statistically significant regression equations were obtained for the 9 compounds between plasma and serum matrices. Undecanoate, pentadecanoate, linolenate, and palmitate levels were lowest in plasma, while stearate, heptadecanoate levels were highest in whole blood. Myristate was highest in serum, dodecanoate was highest in plasma while docosahexanoate was found to be comparable in all three matrices. Methyl ester forms of dodeconate, myristate, pentadecanoate, palmitate, heptadecanoate, stearate, and linolenate were observed in higher concentrations in plasma when compared to serum. Conclusions: The current study shows similar & correlating FAME concentrations between serum and plasma matrix; however, whole blood FAME concentrations appear significantly different. Plasma serves as the most ideal matrix for detection and quantification of circulating fatty acids. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop