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The Swedish Metabolomics Centre and the Chalmers Mass Spectrometry Infrastructure at SciLifeLab both specialize in MS-based metabolomics and lipidomics, but serve distinct research needs.
Swedish Metabolomics Centre
- Specializes in metabolomics and lipidomics, focusing on small molecules, lipids, and metabolites in biological samples.
- Offers both untargeted (comprehensive profiling) and targeted analyses, including i.e amino acids, sugars, TCA cycle intermediates and fatty acids.
- Provides tailored method development and open access to instruments for researchers.
- Ideal for studies in metabolic pathways, biomarker discovery, and systems biology research.
Chalmers Mass Spectrometry Infrastructure
- Specializes in metabolomics and lipidomics with a focus on large cohort and intervention studies as well as in comprehensive quantitative metabolomics applications.
- Provides support in computational metabolomics and develops methods thereof.
- Provides services such as method development and training in analytical mass spectrometry techniques.
- Supports both service-based and hands-on analytical projects, including educational components for researchers and students.
Key Differentiators
Whereas both units offer both targeted and untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics services there are some key differentiatiors:
- SMC focus on prospective and functional discovery studies in a wide range of science domains, research questions, sample matrices and sample (plasma, cells, bacteria, plants, tissues etc.) and different sizes/volumes. Typical project sizes: between 20-500 samples
- CMSI has a primary focus on large sample sets from large interventions and population-based cohorts numbering in the thousands, particularly projects within the domain of precision health.
Your choice should depend on the nature of your project. Not sure which unit is most suitable? Get in touch!
Unit information
Swedish Metabolomics Centre
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Introduction
Services
Applications
Equipment
Addresses
Introduction
Swedish Metabolomics Centre (SMC) in Umeå (SLU; UmU) was launched 2013 via an infrastructure grant from Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation. The aim of the centre has from the beginning been to support researchers at Swedish Universities with mass spectrometry based small molecule, lipid, and metabolomics analysis in all types of biological tissues and fluids. Since 2016, SMC is a unit within SciLifeLab.

Services
The Swedish Metabolomics Centre helps researchers to answer their questions by providing tailor-made metabolite and lipid analyses. SMC offers all analytical steps from sample preparation to data processing, for both untargeted and targeted analysis of low molecular weight compounds.
We offer four different products:
- Untargeted methods (metabolomics and lipidomics screening)
- Targeted methods (i.e. amino acids, sugars, fatty acids, etc)
- Method development
- Open Access (i.e. you use our instruments to do the analysis yourself).
There is always a meeting between SMC and the customer, either in person or over Zoom. In the meeting we explain our services, discuss your project and together with you we choose which of our services that will be the best fit for your project.
Applications
Metabolites are essential components in all living organisms. It is well known that disorders in metabolite patterns cause metabolic diseases that can have dramatic effects on the survival of the organism. Therefore, measuring metabolites is essential in today’s clinical chemistry. In addition to using metabolite profiles for screening of metabolic disorders (clinical chemistry applications), targeted or untargeted profiling of metabolites or lipids are necessary to understand fundamental biological processes.
Perturbations in metabolite patterns have been associated with metabolic diseases and other conditions that can have a dramatic effect on the organism. As metabolites can be considered as “end-points” and closer to the phenotype than other omics data, e.g. transcript or protein data, the metabolite data provides biochemical information that can be linked to particular phenotypes. These links can then be used to connect to gene-, protein- or other meta-data in explorations of targeted biological processes, or to identify biomarkers of both health conditions and environmental exposures.
Equipment
Mass spectrometers dedicated for metabolomic analyses
- Leco Pegasus BT, GCTOFMS
- Leco Pegasus HT, GCTOFMS
- Agilent 7000, GCQqQMSMS
- Agilent UHPLC-QqQMSMS 6495
- Agilent UHPLC-QqQMSMS, 6490 (2)
- Agilent 6546 iFunnel Accurate-Mass UHPLC-QTOFMSMS (2)
- Agilent 6560 Ion Mobility UHPLC-QTOFMSMS
Other instrumentation
- Agilent RapidFire
- Agilent Bravo
Adresses
Swedish Metabolomics Centre
Umeå University
Department of Plant Physiology
KBC Lastplats
907 36 Umeå
Sweden
Swedish Metabolomics Centre
KBC Building
Linnaeus väg 6
901 87 Umeå
Sweden
Chalmers Mass Spectrometry Infrastructure
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Introduction
Services
Applications
Equipment
Address
Introduction
The Chalmers Mass Spectrometry Infrastructure (CMSI) is a Chalmers infrastructure with the goal of providing efficient, cutting-edge metabolomics and lipidomic services to the life science research community. The infrastructure provides a combination of assays and services to help elucidate varying research questions and provides an open access laboratory for training of researchers and students in analytical mass spectrometry. Beyond providing analyses, CMSI can also develop new methods based on novel concepts within analytical chemistry to ensure that researchers have access to the best possible solutions for their research projects.
Services
CMSI provides a combination of untargeted screening applications and quantitative assays within the domain of lipidomics and metabolomics. In addition, CMSI provides and develops comprehensive targeted quantitative metabolite panels that offer life science researchers easier access to mapping of the known metabolome. The service models of CMSI include steps from consultation, sample preparation, sample analysis to data processing. Additional computational metabolomics support can also be requested for, but the availability of the service is limited.
Applications
- Untargeted metabolomics analysis
- Targeted lipidomics
- Targeted sugar analysis in urine
Equipment
Analytical instruments available at CMSI
- 2 x Sciex 6500+ QTRAP UHPLC-MS/MS
- Waters UHPLC-MS/MS TQ-s micro
- Waters UHPLC-MS/MS TQ Absolute
- Waters UHPLC-IM-qTOF Synapt Xs
- Waters UHPLC-cIM-qTOF
- 2 x Waters UHPLC-qTOF MRT
- Waters UHPLC-qTOF Xevo TQ-xs
- Shimadzu GC-MS/MS TQ8030
- Shimadzu GC-MS QP2020NX
- Thermo Trace 1300 GC-FID
- Several LC and UHPLC systems with UV, PDA, RI and FLR detectors
- Hamilton Star liquid handling system
Address
Visiting address / shipping address
Chalmers University of Technology
Chalmers Mass Spectrometry Infrastructure
Kemivägen 10
SE-412 96
Gothenburg, Sweden