Abstract
Citizen scientists are an underrated source of observations on medical conditions. They frequently offer researchers a head start in the hunt for biomarkers (see, for example, the tentative identification of volatile indicators of early Parkinson's disease: go.nature.com/wggoss).
The precision and high-throughput capability of analytical technology drives most advances in clinical diagnostics (L. M. McShane et al. Nature 502, 317–320; 2013). Analytical science and its subdiscipline metabolomics (the study of chemical fingerprints left by cellular processes) are also crucial for guiding clinical decisions (see go.nature.com/l8pcde). These tools are set to be valuable for investigating and tapping into citizen scientists' previously unreported medical phenomena.
The precision and high-throughput capability of analytical technology drives most advances in clinical diagnostics (L. M. McShane et al. Nature 502, 317–320; 2013). Analytical science and its subdiscipline metabolomics (the study of chemical fingerprints left by cellular processes) are also crucial for guiding clinical decisions (see go.nature.com/l8pcde). These tools are set to be valuable for investigating and tapping into citizen scientists' previously unreported medical phenomena.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 193 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Nature |
| Volume | 528 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 9 Dec 2015 |
Keywords
- citizen scientists
- diagnostics
- biomarkers
- metabolomics