The Central Service Core uses established recharge rates approved by the University of California, recharging costs for staff and consumables, but not for equipment depreciation.

Rates comprise data acquisition (by platform) as well as hourly rates for services rendered by staff for sample preparation, data processing, data curation, and reporting. These are estimates and the per-sample prices changes with the number of samples that are submitted. For a study of 500 samples and using all three non-targeted assays combined (two LC-accurate mass MS/MS with positive/negative ESI injections, plus GC-TOF MS), per-sample rates in 2022 are $154 for clients from University of California, $240 for non-UC academic institutions and $297 for industry. For individual assays on 500 samples, see below. 

Our Assays and Platforms

Primary Metabolism:  carbohydrates and sugar phosphates, amino acids, hydroxyl acids, free fatty acids, purines, pyrimidines, aromatics, exposome-derived chemicals

$81 / sample ($52 for UC clients)                    order here

Untargeted Profiling of Primary Metabolism by automatic liner exchange / cold injection GC-TOF mass spectrometry

• For blood plasma, urine, fecal matter, and tissue samples of various origins samples, normalized relative intensities are reported for up to 200 identified metabolites in addition to 200-300 compounds of unknown chemical structure.
• Samples from other sources (tissues, cell cultures) may differ in the number of identified and unidentified compounds.
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All metabolites are reported by retention index, quantification mass, biochemical database identifiers and full mass spectra. Metabolites are quantified by peak heights, not in absolute concentrations. However, we can add internal standards and use calibration curves as needed to give absolute (micromolar) concentrations as requested, e.g. for TCA (Krebs cycle) intermediates, glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway metabolites, amino acids or other targets! Through untargeted analyses, we also detect exposome-type compounds, from microbial conversions of food metabolites to pharmaceutical drugs.

Complex Lipids:
ceramides, sphingomyelins, cholesteryl esters, oxysterols, lyso- and phospholipids, mono-, di- and triacylglycerols, galactosyl- and glucuronyllipids

$114 / sample ($73 for UC clients)                    order here

Untargeted profiling of complex lipids by liquid chromatography Charged Surface Hybrid  CSH-QTOF mass spectrometry

• For blood plasma, fecal matter, and tissue samples of various origins, normalized relative intensities are reported for up to 350 identified lipids in addition to unknowns. Lipids are identified by our mass spectral library of 200,000 MS/MS spectra in addition to accurate masses and retention time matching.
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• Untargeted data processing may add a large number of additional metabolites of unknown chemical structure.
• Samples from other sources (tissues, urine, cell cultures) may differ in the number of identified and unidentified compounds.
• All lipids are reported by retention times, quantification masses, biochemical database identifiers and adduct information. Lipids are quantified by peak heights, not in absolute concentrations. However, we are adding 13 internal standards for to convert peak heights into good estimates of absolute (micromolar) concentrations for a range of lipid classes typically detected in biofluids and tissues!

Biogenic amines:
acylcarnitines, TMAO, cholines, betaines, SAM, SAH, nucleotides and nucleosides, methylated and acetylated amines, di- and oligopeptides

$114 / sample ($73 for UC clients)                    order here

Untargeted profiling of biogenic amines by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography HILIC-QTOF mass spectrometry

• For blood plasma, cells, and tissue samples of various origins, normalized relative intensities are reported for up to 50 identified biogenic amines in addition to a large list of unknowns. Biogenic amines are identified by matching mass spectra in a targeted library of MS/MS spectra in addition to accurate masses and retention time matching.
•  
• Untargeted data processing may add a large number of additional metabolites of unknown chemical structure.
• Samples from other sources (tissues, urine, cell cultures) may differ in the number of identified and unidentified compounds.
•  
• All biogenic amines are reported by retention times, quantification masses, biochemical database identifiers and adduct information. Biogenic amines are quantified by peak heights, not in absolute concentrations. However, we are adding 9 internal standards for to convert peak heights into good estimates of absolute (micromolar) concentrations for a range of biogenic amines typically detected in biofluids and tissues! Through untargeted analyses, we also detect exposome-type compounds, from microbial conversions of food metabolites to pharmaceutical drugs.

Targeted metabolite analyses:
bile acids, steroids, oxylipins, very short-chain fatty acids

$93 / sample ($59 for UC clients)                    order here

by liquid chromatography-QTRAP or gas chromatography-quadrupole mass spectrometry

• We have a range of validated assays for specific compound classes that are not easily captured in the broader untargeted platforms give above. Specifically, steroids and eicosanoids (oxylipins) are very low abundant in most samples and require both internal standards for accurate quantifications and much more labor hours. Hence, these assays are more costly, and require also more volumes.

For fecal matter (stool samples) and plasma, we have validated analyses of very short chain fatty acids (e.g. acetate, propionate and butyrate) and bile acids. We also offer extending these target assays to other matrices, and we offer establishing target methods for hypothesis-driven research and for validation projects following untargeted profiling studies.To the left, you see a calibration curve for fluoxetine concentration in primate plasma. For all targeted assays, data are usually reported in absolute concentrations.

Identification of Unknown Metabolites

~ $ 5,000 / project                                               order here

Through the untargeted analyses above, we detect and semi-quantify hundreds of potentially innovative, novel compounds. Very often, these compounds that lack structural annotations will show to be significantly regulated in statistical analysis, and hence, investigators often have high interest in identifying these signals.

We offer best-efforts, but no guarantee of success, for identification of unknown compounds by accurate mass GC-QTOF, LC-MS^n and LC-QTOF mass spectrometry. Please, note that we do not offer identification projects of unknowns that were detected through other service providers, or in laboratories other than the WCMC labs. We use different strategies, libraries, a variety of software programs, derivatization and chromatography schemes to identify those compounds, and have published on our methods and approaches. Structure annotations are laborious and require very skilled scientists, so we only offer this as collaborative projects (with co-publications), but not by hourly rates. If interested, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Contact:

Please request cost estimates for your specific project from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(530) 752-8129