WHAT IS MULTIOMICS?

RESEARCHERS IN THE FIELDS OF HEALTH AND BIOLOGY OFTEN USE THE SUFFIX -OMICS. BUT WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN?

-OMICS

When added to a molecular or microbial term, the suffix ‘-omics’ refers to the comprehensive analysis of a collection of those molecules or microbes. For example, genomics is the comprehensive study of all of an organism’s genes. Genomics is different from genetics, which considers single genes or their variants. Scientists often talk informally of ‘omics’ or ‘omics groups’, which may include genomics, metabolomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, microbiomics and others.

MULTIOMICS

Multiomics, which formed the basis of the study led by Prof Michael Snyder, is a branch of molecular biology in which researchers combine and analyse large data sets representing different omics groups. The goal of multiomics is to highlight relationships among the collections of molecules and their functions.