Metabolites are small molecules that play important roles in biological and cellular processes. They act as signalling molecules, serve as cofactors, involved in energy production and storage, and thus responsible for the maintenance, growth, and development of living organisms.

In this webinar we will first introduce metabolomics, which focuses on the comprehensive analysis of metabolites within biological systems such as cells, biofluids, tissues or organisms from different ecosystems and health and environmental backgrounds. In the second part of the webinar, we will show how metabolite data is represented in MetaboLights, an open-access, cross-species, and cross-technique database for metabolomic experiments and derived information. Studies in MetaboLights contain information across study design, sample origin, collection, processing, spectral data measurement, data processing, and metabolite identification. The re-use of data from MetaboLights can take various forms – from identified metabolites towards interpretation, with pathways / reactions / literature, to a matrix for statistical modelling or even re-processing of raw data. In the final part of the webinar, we will introduce MetaboLights’ partner database, ChEBI, that focuses on the nomenclature, structure and biological properties of ‘small molecules’.

Who is this course for?
This webinar is for anyone interested in learning about MetaboLights and ChEBI with a specific focus on learning about ‘small’ molecules in metabolomic studies.

This event is part of a webinar series - Molecular building blocks of life - showcasing the EMBL-EBI resources that provide data and tools for studying molecular building blocks of life at molecular level such as metabolites, DNA/RNA, proteins, and at systems level such as cells. Check out other webinars in this series.

Please note that we are not able to provide certificates of attendance for our webinars.

Outcomes
By the end of the webinar you will be able to:
- Identify how to use metabolomics to study metabolites, and how to access and reuse metabolomics data through MetaboLights.
- Explain what the ChEBI database is and how you can use it to access metabolites of interest and navigate the ChEBI ontology.

This webinar was recorded on 29 November 2023. The slides are available on the EMBL-EBI Training website: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/training/events...