Bioinformatics tools for management of metabolomics data

Dr Helene Ferry-Dumarzet, D. Jacob, L. Gil, A de Daruvar

Centre de Bioinformatique de Bordeaux, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, 146 rue Léo Saignat, F-33076 Bordeaux, France

The center of bioinformatics of Bordeaux (CBiB) develops software infrastructures for the management and exploration of biological data. The CBiB is currently involved in two projects with several partners, in which metabolomics represents the main approach of investigation. I will present an overview of the developments made by the CBIB in the frame of these two projects. The first project is dedicated to methodological improvements for plant metabolomics profiling [1, 2]. The second project focuses on the detection of early biomarkers associated to weight gain combining metabonomic and other “omics” approaches. Our activities include: (i) the design and development of an infrastructure for the storage and the mining of experimental data, (ii) the definition of standards for the sharing of protocols and analytical results, (iii) the development of a website to fill and consult metabolomics data. These activities are inspired by already published standards (ArMet, SMRS, MeMo, MSI). Finally, I will present the chosen strategy for the future development of a generic tool, able to handle metabolomics data from different species and analytical techniques.

[1] MetaboP : http://cbi.labri.fr/outils/MetaboP/
[2] MetaboP public : http://cbi.labri.fr/outils/MetaboP/public