Measure a hundred times and cut once.
A Maltese proverb teaches us to plan well and consider all aspects before starting a project. The most crucial step in planning a multi-omic study is deciding how to collect and process the biological samples. TargetID uses samples from the Maltese Acute Myocardial Infarction Study funded through the MCST R&I 2008 Programme. These samples were collected with meticulous attention to details.
Participants were fasted and asked not to smoke for a number of hours before blood sampling, postponing collection if they had recent infection, vaccination or surgery, collecting samples within a specified timeframe at the same time of day, collecting blood with the participant in the same position, rapid processing of sample. These are just some of the precautions taken to have data that is comparable between one sample and another. This is particularly important for transcriptomic, metabolomic and proteomic work.
The plan for the ethics framework of a project is also crucial. Once taken, these decisions determine the suitability of a sample collection for specific applications. It pays to plan well!
