title: Metabolomics and its integration with systems biology: PSI 2014 conference panel discussion report.
abstract: Metabolomics, being a relatively new field, is facing multiple challenges related to data acquisition and interpretation, reproducibility across analytical platforms, integration with other omics approaches and translation into theragnostic biomarkers. There is an immediate need to overcome these challenges in order to make metabolomics more useful and reliable in terms of improving our current understanding of disease biology and help in developing predictive biomarkers. Researchers interested in metabolomics gathered for a panel discussion on 'Metabolomics and its integration with systems biology' during the 6th Annual Meeting of Proteomics Society-India and International Conference on "Proteomics from Discovery to Function" held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay from December 7-9, 2014. The panel discussed various challenges related to metabolomics and also proposed several effective solutions for optimum implementation of metabolomics in clinical practice. The key areas of panel discussion were improvement in metabolite databases with comprehensive spectral libraries, need for extensive bioinformatics tools for integrative approaches and serious considerations for clinical validation of the biomarkers for the successful implementation of metabolomics in clinics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Information drafted in this report is significant for researchers working in metabolomics field to overcome the challenges and successful implementation of metabolomics in clinical practice. This article is part of a special issue titled: Proteomics in India.
authors.affiliation: Proteomics Lab, National Centre for Cell Science, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411007, MH, India.
authors.forename: Tushar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: More
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
authors.forename: Sourav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: RoyChoudhury
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, MH, India.
authors.forename: Kishore
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gollapalli
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, MH, India.
authors.forename: Sandip K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Bioinformatics, International Tech Park, Bangalore 560066, India.
authors.forename: Harsha
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gowda
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
authors.forename: Koel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chaudhury
authors.affiliation: Proteomics Lab, National Centre for Cell Science, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411007, MH, India.. Electronic address: rsrikanth@nccs.res.in.
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rapole
mesh_terms: D003226:Congresses as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D055432:Metabolomics; D049490:Systems Biology
keywords: Biomarkers; Integrative approach; Mass spectrometry; Metabolomics; NMR