Metabolomics: An Emerging Potential Approach to Study Critical Illnesses

Dear Colleagues,

The reasons for the disproportionately high number of negative randomized controlled trials in critical illness extend beyond improving methodologies, power, and appropriate outcome measurements. Rather, the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of critical illness makes it challenging to prospectively design observational research and clinical trials, limiting our ability to find high-quality therapies to improve outcomes. Instead, precision medicine approaches rooted in translational -omics science, health informatics, and predictive analytics are required to develop targeted, effective therapies and improve patient outcomes.

Recently, efforts have been made to phenotype critical illnesses such as sepsis, a shift away from previous efforts to evaluate treatments and prognostic markers in broadly chosen groups of patients. These efforts suggest that disease phenotypes are not as uniform as previously believed, and as such, different treatments are required for patients with different disease phenotypes. Metabolomics and metabolic phenotyping are reflective of interactions between an individual’s genetics, gut microbiome, and environment (e.g., diet, pharmaceuticals/medical interventions, and exposures) and are well suited to characterizing an individual’s health status at a given point in time or a patient’s response to therapeutic interventions.

Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, studies using metabolomics to phenotype critically ill patients, to evaluate patients’ clinical trajectories, to evaluate specific interventions, and to evaluate prognostic and/or diagnostic biomarkers.

Dr. Elizabeth Lusczek
Dr. Helen G. Gika
Dr. Olga Deda
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• metabolomics
• metabolic phenotype
• critical illness
• sepsis
• precision medicine
• pharmacometabolomics

• Metabolomics: An Emerging Potential Approach to Study Critical Illnesses, 2nd Edition in Metabolites