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Chemical reactions are constantly happening in the body as molecules are assembled or broken down. These internal molecules are called metabolites, and more than 6,000 can be found in humans. Metabolites include amino acids, vitamins, hormones, and just about any other naturally occurring molecule that is not DNA, RNA, or protein. Metabolite profiling, or metabolomics, is the study of the levels of all of the body's naturally occurring small molecules.

Diabetes is, at its essence, a disease of metabolism in which the carefully orchestrated creation and breakdown of substances in the body is thrown off kilter. A person with type 2 diabetes can no longer naturally produce enough of the hormone insulin to keep blood sugar levels at bay and is at risk of serious medical complications, including stroke, kidney disease, and heart disease. But a diagnosis of diabetes is not the first sign of metabolic distress – there may be many molecular anomalies long before the onset of disease.

Authorship on a scholarly paper is coin of the realm in science. For the first time at the Ó³»­´«Ã½, two young men earned that honor for work they performed as freshly minted summer interns in a program for high-school students.