Steroid Metabolome Analysis Core
The Steroid Metabolome Analysis Core (SMAC) is an internationally recognised research group who specialises in mass spectrometry based multi-steroid profiling to investigate steroid metabolism in biological samples. SMAC specialises in focused investigations into steroids and their metabolites in cells, tissues and biofluids (serum, urine, saliva), providing quantitative, GCP compliant, analyses that can support laboratory studies, clinical research, and clinical trials. SMAC is involved in projects from conception to completion with the application of analytical, biochemical, and clinical expertise to interpret our data sets.
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Don’t know which steroids are important or which method to use to analyse them?
Steroid biosynthesis and metabolism can be investigated in serum, urine, saliva, or other biological fluids. Each biofluid has advantages and problems. For example, serum is invasive to collect and only allows investigation at a single point in time that can be hampered by the diurnal rhythm of some steroids. Saliva is non-invasive and easy to collect, but only useful for high concentration steroids and again is hampered by diurnal rhythms. 24-hour urine samples overcome the problems of diurnal rhythm, permitting a fuller picture of flux through steroid pathways, however, a 24-hour urine sample is cumbersome to collect, and the data is complicated by the further metabolism steps required to covert steroids into their excretable conjugates.