A Comprehensive Approach

The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) has established and implemented a quality management system that includes quality assurance and quality control practices for targeted and untargeted molecular omics studies to ensure reproducible measurements and data standardization among different instrumentation platforms. In addition, the Center has experience participating in cross-laboratory validation studies. Our subject-matter experts have over 30 years of combined experience in mass spectrometry, data analysis, and informatics pipelines.

Finally, we regularly review scientific literature and metabolomics Quality Assurance and Quality Control Consortium (mQACC) guidelines for metabolomics research and reporting as they become available.  The Consortium’s recommendations are incorporated into our comprehensive Quality Management System and reviewed regularly for updates or changes.

Metabolomics Quality Assurance and Control

Quality Assurance (QA)

Quality assurance allows us to ensure that methods are designed in such way they result in high-quality outcomes.

  • Quality Management Plan

  • Maintenance & Calibration

    for all laboratory instrumentation and equipment

  • Standard Operating Procedures

    e.g., sample storage, sample preparation and extraction, instrument setup, QC sample assessment, data analysis, data handling

  • Staff Training

    e.g., training for instrumentation, data analysis, and lab safety

  • Data Handling & Traceability

    e.g., samples, sample results, analytical supplies

Quality Control (QC)

Quality control processes allow us to ensure that methods were applied correctly and analytical performance meets predefined standards.

  • Instrument Performance Checks

    to validate conformance with pre-defined performance parameters (e.g., recovery)

  • Standards & Certified Reference Materials

    e.g., to validate annotations and provide traceability

  • Randomization of Samples

    to guard against technical bias

  • Sample Replicates

    e.g., biological, technical

  • Preparation & Inclusion of QC Samples

    e.g., sample blanks, pooled samples

  • Performance Monitoring & Analysis over Time

Metabolomics Quality Assurance
Metabolomics Quality Control