Metabolomics has emerged as a powerful discipline for capturing dynamic biochemical states and linking molecular processes to human health, disease, and biotechnology. This chapter explores the evolution of metabolomics from early profiling efforts to its current integration with advanced analytical platforms, computational biology, and precision medicine. We highlight how targeted and untargeted metabolomic strategies have advanced biomarker discovery, clarified disease mechanisms, and informed the development of personalized therapies in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other conditions. The role of pharmacometabolomics in refining drug response predictions and guiding therapeutic decisions is also examined. Beyond biomedicine, metabolomics drives innovation in biotechnology, synthetic biology, and bio-based production, while emerging tools such as single-cell metabolomics and machine learning continue to expand its scope. By directly tracing metabolic fluxes and engineering new pathways, metabolomics is becoming a practical engine for designing microbes, optimizing bioprocesses, and accelerating drug discovery.
Rosenn et al. (Thu,) studied this question.