2018/12/27 by Benita Percival, Martin Grootveld, Miles Gibson +10 · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Engineering · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies #Biomolecule #Chemistry #Chromatography #Computer science #Materials science #Medicine #Metabolomics #Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Studies #NMR spectroscopy and applications #Nanotechnology #Nuclear magnetic resonance #Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy #Physics #Point of care #Protocol (science) #Spectrometer
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/ht8010002
openalex publication_date 2018/12/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Novel sensing technologies for liquid biopsies offer promising prospects for the early detection of metabolic conditions through omics techniques. Indeed, high-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) facilities are routinely used for metabolomics investigations on a range of biofluids in order to rapidly recognise unusual metabolic patterns in patients suffering from a range of diseases. However, these techniques are restricted by the prohibitively large size and cost of such facilities, suggesting a possible role for smaller, low-field NMR instruments in biofluid analysis. Herein we describe selected biomolecule validation on a low-field benchtop NMR spectrometer (60 MHz), and present an associated protocol for the analysis of biofluids on compact NMR instruments. We successfully detect common markers of diabetic control at low-to-medium concentrations through optimised experiments, including α-glucose (≤2.8 mmol/L) and acetone (25 µmol/L), and additionally in readily accessible biofluids, particularly human urine. We present a combined protocol for the analysis of these biofluids with low-field NMR spectrometers for metabolomics applications, and offer a perspective on the future of this technique appealing to 'point-of-care' applications.