Metabolomics - the study of body metabolites

Metabolomics is the study of body chemistry and the metabolites (small chemical compounds) that are produced by cellular processes. Every living cell in the body is 'metabolically active' and combined all these cells, in every body organ, produce a unique chemical fingerprint that differs from one individual to the next. The total system is called the 'metabolome' which represents all small molecules. These metabolites can be studied in a range of body fluids including blood, but importantly for preterm babies we believe that urine and stool have a lot to tell is about the 'health' of the baby.

This is important for our research group because these metabolites represent metabolic activity in both human cells and microbial cells (most of which are in the gut.) Our research group, and others, have shown there are important changes in the types and proportions of different gut bacteria before babies develop NEC or sepsis. We don't know though, what is causing these perturbations, but more importantly we don't know what functional effect they might be having. Combining microbiomic and metabolomic approaches help us develop a more 'systems biology' approach i.e. determining several components of the body system.

We are just starting to look at these patterns in urine in babies who did and did not develop NEC. We want to see if there are any differences, first of all, and then look to see if we can identify which of the tens of thousands of different chemical compounds they might be.

We have also started to look at the pattern of metabolites in the stool during NICU stay, and after discharge when the infants are 2-3 years old. They show us that the pattern of metabolites changes, and that there are more and more of these products appearing during infancy.