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COMETS Projects and Collaborations

The COnsortium of METabolomics Studies (COMETS) advances metabolomic epidemiology by facilitating collaborations among prospective cohort studies that perform metabolomic profiling of individuals. Collaborative metabolomics projects that have been proposed by COMETS members and approved by the COMETS Steering Committee are below. 

List of COMETS Projects

Projects as of December 2023
Focus* Project Lead Investigator(s) Date Approved Status
Health Outcomes Blood metabolomic profiling in prostate cancer risk Demetrius Albanes 2017 Fall Ongoing
Health Outcomes Blood metabolites profiling in malignant glioma risk Demetrius Albanes 2017 Fall Ongoing
Metabolit(s) - Focused

Levels of trimethylamine metabolites and their associations with dietary and non-dietary factors

Pan et al., 2021, Am J Clin Nutr.

Yang et al., 2021, Am J Clin Nutr.

Danxia Yu 2017 Fall Complete
Exposures and Genetics Genetic influences on the human metabolome Bing Yu 2017 Fall Ongoing
Exposures and Genetics The metabolome of overweight and obesity Rachel Kelly 2017 Fall Ongoing
Health Outcomes

Metabolomics of blood pressure regulation

Panayiotis et al., 2022, Metabolites.

Christina Menni 2017 Fall Complete
Health Outcomes Metabolomic profiles of dietary factors implicated in cancer etiology Mary Playdon and Steven Moore 2018 Spring Ongoing
Exposures and Genetics Genetics, metabolomics, and cardiovascular disease risk Bing Yu and Christina Menni 2018 Spring Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolomic profile of type 2 diabetes: the COnsortium of METabolomics Studies (COMETS) Nicholette Allred and Meghana Gadgil 2018 Spring Ongoing
Exposures and Genetics Genetic analysis and causal inference for untargeted signals from MS-based metabolite profiles Joel Hirschhorn 2018 Spring Ongoing
Metabolite(s) - Focused Genes, environment, and metabolic disease - convergence on ceramides Scott Summers and Mary Playdon 2018 Spring Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolomic profiles and pancreatic cancer risk Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon 2018 Spring Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolomic profiles of inflammatory and insulinemic dietary patterns and colorectal cancer risk Fred Tabung 2019 Winter Ongoing
Health Outcomes Blood metabolomics and lung cancer risk Wei Jie Seow 2019 Winter Ongoing
Exposures and Genetics Blood metabolites and their association with age: A COMETS Study Steve Moore 2019 Spring Ongoing
Metabolite(s) - Focused Metabolomic profiles of circulating micronutrients and vitamin/nutritional supplements Demetrius Albanes 2019 Summer Ongoing
Methods Genetic imputation of metabolomics data Burcu Darst 2019 Summer Ongoing
Exposures and genetics Biomarkers of exposure and response to coffee intake Marc Gunter 2019 Summer Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolomic health and obesity-relevant diseases Mary Playdon 2019 Summer Ongoing
Health Outcomes Genetic metabolite scores for prediction of incident and prevalent cardiometabolic and pulmonary disease Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong 2019 Summer Ongoing
Health Outcomes Sex differences in the metabolome Raji Balasubramanian 2020 Winter Ongoing
Exposures and genetics A metabolomic characterization of APOE genotype using the COnsortium of METabolomics Studies Megan Marron 2020 Winter Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolomic profiles of subclinical atherosclerosis Bing Yu 2020 Spring Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolomic profiles of colorectal cancer Jennifer Ose 2020 Summer Ongoing
Health outcomes Prospective metabolomics study of gastric cancer Xiang Shu 2020 Summer

Ongoing

Health Outcomes Consequences of air quality on cardiometabolic and pulmonary disease Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong 2020 Summer Ongoing
Health Outcomes Novel metabolomic pathways for hyperuricemia and gout Hyon K. Choi 2021 Winter Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolomics of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung function, and allergy phenotypes Jessica Lasky-Su, Rachel Kelly, and Bo Chawes on behalf of the COMETS Lung IG 2021 Winter Ongoing
Health Outcomes Adulthood weight change, blood metabolomic profiles, and lung function Hyung-Suk Yoon 2021 Winter Ongoing
Health Outcomes Magnesium-modifiable microbial metabolites in association with diet, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease Danxia Yu 2021 Winter Ongoing
Metabolite(s) - Focused Examination of vitamin D-associated and other metabolites in relation to cancer risk and mortality by race and ethnicity Wayne R. Lawrence and Gieira S. Jones 2021 Summer Ongoing
Metabolite(s) - Focused Dietary metabolomics in the COnsortium of METabolomics Studies Mary Playdon on behalf of the COMETS Diet IG 2021 Summer Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolome profile associated with interstitial lung abnormalities Scott Matson 2022 Winter Ongoing
Health Outcomes Impact of Caloric Restriction on Metabolomic Aging Waylon Hastings 2023 Winter Ongoing
Health Outcomes Predicting common infectious diseases and their risk on developing new diseases Ewy Mathé and Jessica Lasky-Su 2023 Winter Ongoing
Health Outcomes Metabolomic analysis of breast cancer risk Vicky Stevens and Steve Moore 2023 Spring Ongoing
* Projects are classified according to the following focus areas: (1) Health outcomes projects are focused on associations between metabolites and diseases/other health outcomes; (2) Exposures and genetics projects are focused on the interrelationships among exposures, or genetics and metabolites; (3) Metabolite(s)-focused projects will assess the interrelationships between exposures or genetics and specific metabolites (or classes of metabolites) and their role on health outcomes; (4) Methods projects will address analytical, platform, harmonization, statistical or other methodologic topics.

Proposing New Projects

The 2024 deadlines for submitting proposals are March 15, July 12, and November 15. Although COMETS members can submit proposals at any time throughout the year, they will not be reviewed until after the next deadline closest to the time of submission.

Download the Study Proposal Form

Overview of the review process for COMETS proposals

Proposals are submitted by sending them to Luciana Crotti Espinoza and Kelly Crotty via email by the indicated deadline.

  1. Initial Review - This will be completed within three weeks of the submission deadline and will consist of the following steps:
    • The Proposal Review Chair will make the proposals available to all steering committee members interested in participating in the review. One steering committee member will be assigned to be the primary reviewer for each proposal.
    • Comments and preliminary scores (1-5, corresponding to the criteria listed below, are due two weeks after the submission deadline.)
      • Approve as is
      • Approve with modifications
      • Deny with suggestions for revision
      • Deny due to overlap with other COMETS ongoing project
      • Deny due to insufficiently narrow in scope
    • During the third week, all proposals will be reviewed during a teleconference to which all investigators that submitted proposals will be invited to participate
      • The primary reviewer for each proposal will lead the discussion of that application. Proposal investigators may be asked to provide additional information about their project.
      • All steering committee members on the call will vote for a final score for each proposal.
  2. For proposals receiving a 2 (Approve with minor modifications), revisions can be approved by email.
  3. For proposals requiring major revisions or modifications in scope, investigators should submit a revised proposal and explanatory cover letter. The revised proposal will be discussed on the next Executive Committee call.
Timeline for 2024 Proposal Submission and Review Cycles
Step Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
Submission deadline 3/15/2024 7/12/2024 11/15/2024
Comments and preliminary recommendation deadline 4/5/2024 8/2/2024 12/6/2024
Proposal review conference call 4/8/2024 – 4/19/2024 8/5/2024 – 8/16/2024 12/9/2024 – 12/20/2024
If required, revised proposals due 5/15/2024 8/21/2024 1/17/2025
Revised proposals reviewed by Steering Committee 5/22/2024 8/28/2024 1/22/2025

Guidelines on publishing a COMETS project

COMETS members should follow these guidelines when publishing or presenting on a COMETS projects. Including COMETS in the authorship would enable "COMETS" to be part of the PubMed index, thereby facilitating finding related publications. 

Goal

To facilitate searching and tracking of COMETS publications, members should consider including COMETS as part of the authors or title of COMETS-related publications.

Guidelines

  • For publications or conference abstracts that address a project or topic related to the entire COMETS consortium (e.g. description of COMETS consortium, COMETS Analytics, Interest Group, etc.), the term "COMETS" or the name of the COMETS Interest Group (e.g. "COMETS Statistics Interest Group") should be included in the authorship and appear in the title. 
  • For publications or abstracts that arise from COMETS projects (e.g. meta-analyses or analyses using COMETS cohort data), members should include a suffix containing the word COMETS in their title. Suggestions of suffixes include ": a COMETS Project" or ": a Report from COMETS" or ": a COMETS Study."
  • For publications or abstracts arising from collaborations with COMETS (e.g. collaboration using COMETS resources), "COMETS" or the specific COMETS IG should be included in the acknowledgements. 

Examples of previous COMETS publications

Example of planned publication

  • COMETS Analytics v2.0 Implements Generalized Linear Models: Findings from the COMETS Lung Disease Interest Group. Rachel S Kelly.

Developed by the COMETS Data Infrastructure and Lung Interest Groups in January 2023. 

  • Posted:

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