£30,000 Boost For UK-China Metabolomics Data Sharing | Asian Scientist Magazine | Science, Technology and Medicine News Updates From Asia

"A partnership between the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the Universities of Birmingham, Manchester and Oxford, The Sainsbury Laboratory and TGAC with Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) and its open-access journal, GigaScience, has received funding from the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC) to support the sharing of data and analyses in metabolomics. Metabolomics involves the detection and quantification of small molecules (metabolites) in living organisms using mass spectrometers. The measurements made from these sophisticated instruments are analysed using computational programs to determine the abundances of metabolites, the results of which can provide an indication of an organism's cellular condition and health. These data can be stored and shared through public databases such as MetaboLights, which launched in 2012. However, data sharing is not yet keeping pace with the publication of scientific papers in Metabolomics ..."