Where do I start?

There are two types of metabolomic studies: discovery based and hypothesis based. Discovery based studies are useful for 1) biomarker discovery (for disease diagnosis and prognosis) and 2) employing the ‘red-light vs green-light’ approach to study design. While other omics studies (transcriptomics) can provide very useful information, they are also more costly and time consuming than metabolomics. Metabolomics can offer an efficient and predictive platform on which to direct other more costly studies. Hypothesis based studies are much more conventional and can offer very clear results. However, it can be difficult to design experiments that ask specific questions about metabolic changes. Before beginning any metabolomics study, you must decide what type of study you would like to do.