# Metabolomics Core for the Dietary Biomarkers Development Center at Harvard University

> **NIH NIH U2C** · HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · 2024 · $274,104

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY – METABOLOMICS CORE
The overarching goal of the Dietary Biomarker Development Centers (DBDCs) is to develop objective
biomarkers of dietary intake that can complement current dietary intake assessment methods. Liquid
chromatography tandem mass spectrometry- (LC-MS-) based profiling technologies provide a powerful means
to profile food biomarkers, including nutrient and non-nutrient molecules directly derived from food as well as
their metabolites generated via metabolic transformation by both the host and the microbiome. We propose
creating a Metabolomics Core for the DBDC at Harvard University that will use a suite of five complimentary
nontargeted LC-MS methods to discover new food biomarkers in acute feeding studies conducted by the
Intervention Core and to develop targeted assays for biomarker validation studies in larger human cohorts in
conjunction with the Biomarkers Project. The Core will leverage existing expertise and resources of the
Metabolomics Platform at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and will use equipment capable of high
resolution and accurate mass (HRAM) for hybrid analyses of compounds of known identity, confirmed using
reference standards, and thousands of peaks from yet to be characterized molecules. The Core will use a
structure elucidation workflow that incorporates a dedicated Thermo ID-X LC-MS system for extensive
acquisition of product ion spectra (MS/MS) coupled with a machine learning-based structure prediction
workflow to efficiently determine identities of important unknowns. Once new food biomarkers have been
identified, the Core will develop targeted triple quadrupole MS-based assays using stored plasma and urine
samples from a human intervention trial (164 participants in OmniHeart) and cohorts (600 in LVS and 450 in
SOLNAS) in the Biomarkers Project.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10898082
- **Project number:** 5U2CDK129670-04
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD UNIVERSITY D/B/A HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** Clary B Clish
- **Activity code:** U2C (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $274,104
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-08-16 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10898082

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10898082, Metabolomics Core for the Dietary Biomarkers Development Center at Harvard University (5U2CDK129670-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10898082. Licensed CC0.

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