What is Metabolomics
Metabolomics is the study of metabolites, that’s to say the products of the metabolic reactions that occur in our body. It is one of the most promising “omics” sciences, together with genomics, proteomics and transcriptomics.
The goal of metabolomics is not only prevention and cure, but also to maintain the wellness through administration of customized diets and integration of vitamins and nutrients.
Metabolomics allows to identify and quantify simultaneously several molecules of low molecular weight, allowing us to obtain a fingerprint of the whole metabolic state, at both the cellular and tissue level of our organism.
Metabolomics is based on complete metabolite analysis obtained by metabolic profiling techniques as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS). The NMR has the advantage of being a non-invasive and non-destructive technique so that the sample can be reused at the end of the analysis.
This analysis allows us to verify the biochemical status of cellular metabolism and to reveal any anomaly related to chronic or even full blown diseases, identifying not only what is already in place, but pre-pathological stages as well, connected to risk factors of onset of this disease, by the identification of biomarkers.
Targets of the research
To Determine the metabolic profile through Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) of human tissues and bio-fluids (blood and urine) for the identification of biochemical markers determining the development of psoriasis.
For to study fluids, the High Resolution NMR spectroscopy is used, while in the case of tissues and cells, we use a technique called HR-MAS NMR, “High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning” NMR. This technique allows to investigate materials with a consistency between solid and liquid, by rotating the sample at 54.7° (the magic angle) in the direction of the magnetic field.
In conclusion, metabolomics is able to provide biochemical markers allowing an improvement in the diagnosis and prognosis, and is able to monitor the effectiveness of treatments. Metabolic pathways will be evaluated in order to propose new therapeutic targets able to act in the altered metabolic pathways for correcting the processes that cause the disease.