Introduction

Metabolomics is an emerging research area that has developed rapidly within systems biology in recent years. Metabolites are the products of cellular regulation of physiological processes. Changes in types and quantities of metabolites can be considered as the final response of biological systems to changes in genes or the environment. The research on these metabolites provides new information and opportunities for the study of the function of the entire cell system, and has an important role in promoting research in the fields of medicine, new drug development, agricultural breeding, and biological signal transmission.

The Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center established the Metabolomics Core Facility in 2003. In addition to assisting the Chinese herbal medicine research program in the center, and help to find active ingredients. Another important direction is to establish a Metabonomics research platform.

The Metabolomics Core Facility is located on the 7th floor of the Agricultural Biotechnology Building. The major instruments and equipment housed by this laboratory are: liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/QTOF), liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)and gas chromatography mass spectrometry system (GC-MS). The service items provided above are all operated by a designated operator. In addition, core facility also includes ultra-performance liquid chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, medium pressure liquid chromatography, and rotary evaporator. Due to the large number of users, we provide technical consultation to assist laboratory personnel to use the equipment by themselves. The nuclear magnetic resonance instrument (NMR) located in Institute of Biological Chemistry can only be used by those who have passed the appropriate examination. We hope that PIs and colleagues make utmost use of it.

Due to the structural diversity, molecular polarity differences, wide range of molecular weights and relative concentrations of metabolites, which are the main causes of difficulties in metabolite analysis, appropriate choices must be made in sample extraction and analysis methods. We, therefore, welcome everyone, PIs and colleagues, to discuss with us first. In addition, we will gradually establish some standardized experimental procedures for metabolite analysis to provide labs in the center with applications for metabolite research.