EASY-FIA: A Readably Usable Standalone Tool for High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Metabolomics Data Pre-Processing

Area of Science:

• Metabolomics
• Analytical Chemistry
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Flow injection analysis coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (FIA-HRMS) offers a balance of speed and resolution for metabolomic studies.
• Existing free software for FIA-HRMS data pre-processing is limited, often web-based, and requires advanced user expertise.
• Current tools frequently lack integrated strategies for blank and noise evaluation, and direct feature annotation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop EASY-FIA, a free, standalone application for FIA-HRMS metabolomic data pre-processing.
• To create a user-friendly tool accessible to scientists without bioinformatics or programming skills.
• To validate the performance and applicability of EASY-FIA in clinical metabolomics.

Main Methods:

• Development of EASY-FIA using MATLAB and App Designer.
• Implementation of key functions: blank subtraction, metabolite alignment, and direct feature annotation using the Human Metabolome Database (HMDB).
• Validation using two clinical metabolomics case studies.

Main Results:

• EASY-FIA successfully performs blank subtraction, alignment, and annotation with minimal mass spectrometry parameters.
• The application was validated in two clinical metabolomics case studies, demonstrating its practical utility.
• EASY-FIA requires no advanced bioinformatics or programming skills for operation.

Conclusions:

• EASY-FIA provides a standardized, feasible, and user-friendly solution for FIA-HRMS metabolomic data pre-processing.
• The tool can empower scientists to conduct advanced metabolomic analyses more efficiently.
• EASY-FIA is freely available, promoting wider adoption in the scientific community.