How to study lipidomes

Abstract

Lipidome is loosely defined as the entire spectrum of lipids in a biological system. Given the modern lipidomics platforms for the first time empower us with the ability to obtain a snapshot of complete cellular/organismal lipidome, many surprises and discoveries are likely awaiting us in the area of lipids as related to cellular/organismal physiology. The lipidomics approaches can be applied both as the phenotyping platform and for the hypothesis-driven research aiming to elucidate, e.g., a specific pathway or gene function. Modern lipidomics methods combine the latest mass spectrometry technology and bioinformatics methods with traditional methods such as for sample preparation and lipid extraction.