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What is the QMDB

The Quantitative Metabolomics Database (QMDB) provides plasma concentration ranges for metabolites covered by biocrates profiling kits

  • The QMDB is a collection of a range of metabolite concentrations from healthy human individuals* whose EDTA plasma samples were measured using the MxP® Quant 500 or the AbsoluteIDQ® p180 assays
  • View the typical concentration range for any kit metabolite (concentrations of individual samples are not provided)
  • Customize your reference ranges with a specified subset of the healthy population
  • Export key statistical figures that enable
    • Drawing boxplots and displaying concentration distributions
    • Performing comparative statistics and discovering significant concentration differences

* Absence of a diagnosis of a disease

What is the QMDB

QMDB sample origin and support​

The QMDB provides more specified control ranges for key metabolites

Data origin

More than 1000 healthy* human subjects of different age categories originating from several epidemiological studies in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including

  • Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging
  • Genetic and Epigenetic Signatures of Translational Aging Laboratory Testing study

Extended support

  • Regular database contents growth
  • Continuous optimization of the user experience
  • Excel template for data visualization and statistical analysis

* Absence of a diagnosis of a disease

QMDB sample origin and support

How do users benefit from the database​

A great research tool for scientists applying biocrates technology – Defining normal ranges

The QMDB supports scientific research

  • Use the concentration ranges as reference for studies without or with small healthy control groups
  • Investigate which treatment brings the metabolism back to normal condition
  • Test whether a control group is representative of the normal healthy population
  • Identify and exclude outliers or participants that did not follow the study protocol

The QMDB supports study design

  • Use smaller control groups with a pre-established normal range
  • Use the concentration ranges for in-silico studies, comparing different subgroups within the healthy population
  • Apply the exported values in data science, e.g. pattern recognition algorithms to identify novel metabolite signatures behind donor attributes

Benefit from database

Further advantages of the QMDB​

The metabolomics community benefits from the existence of reference ranges

Why is access to standard reference concentration values important for the metabolomics community?

  • The QMDB is the link between system-biological information and measurement data, pushing metabolomics standardization forward
  • This is part of our mission at biocrates to make metabolomics accessible and connect science globally

Why users should stay subscribed

  • The number of samples in the QMDB is planned to be expanded on a regular basis
  • This means that the reference ranges will become more accurate over time
  • Users appreciate the increasing customization of the database, i.e. to find what they are looking for
  • It is also planned to include additional human sample matrices in the future (in addition to plasma, depending on availability), i.e. serum, breast milk, urine, feces, and dried blood
  • biocrates aims to improve the services and listens to the users. Frequent demands will lead to additional features being developed and incorporated