Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2023-03-13
Buyer: University of Copenhagen
Country: DK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 38000000 | 72314000: Data collection and collation services
Estimated value: 953000 DKK

Technical requirements: We have previously shown that there is a time-specific effect of exercise in healthy, lean mice. The aim of our new study is to investigate if mice in an obese and insulin-resistant state have an altered metabolomic response to exercise. Blood samples and samples from four different organs will be collected for global metabolomic analysis. Our new study will build on data sets from our 2019 and 2022 publications in Cell Metabolism, where we used Metabolon Inc. for the metabolomic analyses. It is essential for reproducibility in this project to use the same analytical platform as previously. Metabolon Inc. has developed an analytical platform that is optimized to detect small metabolite molecules by using stepwise mass spectrometric analyzes followed by analyses with their specially developed software, Metabolyzer ™, setting quantified metabolites into a biological context.
Metabolon Inc. is a leader in high-throughput metabolomics technology and combines several stepwise liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analyses with tailored software, setting the identified metabolites into their biological context.
In order to identify and quantify the metabolites in a sample, a known standard is used as reference, every time a LC/MS analysis is performed in the laboratory. Metabolon Inc. has developed a large in-house metabolite library with chromatograms and mass fragmentation spectra for over 5,400 known chemical standards. Their metabolomics platform can therefore produce a very high and precise coverage of metabolites in a sample (to Metabolon’s knowledge – based on what is reported in the public domain – no one else has such a large metabolite library).
Once the metabolites have been identified and quantified, the next step is to get a better understanding of their biological role. Metabolon has developed a powerful statistical and analytical software, Metabolyzer™, that is specifically tailored for analyses of post-processed LC/MS based metabolomic datasets. It maps metabolites related to key cellular signaling and metabolic networks, thus providing mechanistic insight into the underlying biology of differentially expressed metabolites.
In summary, we have chosen Metabolon Inc. for this Fee-for Service project, as we believe that their comprehensive metabolite library combined with their curated and elaborate software provides a service that is quite unique.
The proposed study will build on our data sets published in Cell Metabolism in 2019 and 2022, respectively. In these studies, Metabolon Inc. was used for the metabolomic sample profiling:
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(19)30183-4?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1550413119301834%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(21)00635-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1550413121006355%3Fshowall%3Dtrue


Winner: Metabolon Inc.
Award value: 953000