Preanalytical Processing and Biobanking Procedures of Biological Samples for Metabolomics Research

Proper handling during the collection and processing of specimens is crucial for producing reliable results.  These pre-analytical steps are highly vulnerable to the introduction of experimental bias and variance, which may drastically degrade specimen quality.  Analytes are affected differently by uncontrolled variations in specimen collection, processing, and storage protocols. The August 2018 issue of Clinical Chemistry includes a Review article from the Precision Medicine and Pharmacometabolomics Task Group of the Metabolomics Society.  The authors summarize the current variability among pre-analytical processing and biobanking procedures for metabolomics research and provide recommendations for best practices.