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Quick Start

This guide helps you get started with integMET in a few minutes.

What You Can Do

  • Explore Differential Profiles — Browse biological comparisons (e.g., control vs. disease) together with metabolic changes
  • Find Metabolites — Search for specific metabolites and trace their changes across studies
  • Browse Studies — Find metabolomics studies by condition, disease, or species

Example Workflows

Workflow A: Start from a Condition

"I'm interested in a disease or condition — what metabolites change?"

"I'm interested in the effect of a drug — what metabolites change?"

1. Go to Diff Profiles

2. Browse or search for DiffProfs to your interest

3-4. Click a DiffProf to see its details and Top Hits

Workflow B: Start from a Metabolite

"I have a metabolite of interest — in which biological event/condition does it change?"

1. Go to Metabolites

2. Find your metabolite by name or identifier

3-4. Click to view details and see Observed in differential profiles

Workflow C: Start from a Study

"I'm interested in this study — what kind of metabolic change can be seen?"

  1. Go to Studies
  2. Find a study of interest
  3. Click to view its detail page
  4. See Differential profiles — the list of DiffProfs derived from this study data
  5. Click a DiffProf to see its metabolic changes

Workflow D: Explore Network Visualization

"I want to find DiffProfs with similar metabolite changes"

integMET provides an interactive network where DiffProfs with similar metabolite-change patterns are connected. This helps discover related biological conditions across different studies.

1. Go to Graph Visualization

2. Browse the Study-level network with filters

3. Select a Study to see its DiffProf network

For detailed instructions, see the Network Visualization Tutorial.

Understanding the Data

Reading a DiffProf

When you view a Differential Profile, you'll see:

Field Meaning
Group A vs Group B The two conditions being compared
Significant Features Number of metabolites with significant changes
Top Hits List of changed metabolites
Ratio Fold-change (>1 = increased, <1 = decreased in Group B)
Direction up or down in Group B relative to Group A

Reading a Metabolite Page

When you view a Metabolite, you'll see:

Field Meaning
InChIKey Unique chemical identifier
Studies Observed All studies where this metabolite was detected
DiffProfs with Variation DiffProfs where this metabolite changed significantly

Tips

  • Start broad, then narrow down — Browse studies first, then drill into specific DiffProfs
  • Use metabolites as links — A metabolite connects multiple studies and conditions
  • Look for patterns — If a metabolite changes across multiple DiffProfs, it may indicate a common biological response

Next Steps