Gone are the days when lipids were thought of as simple storage or structural molecules. Lately, lipids are getting more respect for their roles in myriad functions, from cell growth and metabolism to immunity and inflammation. Researchers are recognizing that these molecules can reveal even more about a cell’s phenotype than gene expression does. Unlike proteins, which are genetically encoded, lipids are synthesized by enzymes in response to environmental factors such as diet and exercise. They have been implicated in disorders including Alzheimer’s, cancer, and heart disease.
“We need to understand lipids to know what the cell is doing,” says Markus Wenk, principal investigator of LipidProfiles, a multicenter lipidomics initiative headquartered at the National University of Singapore. Scientists are turning to mass spectrometry (MS) for that task. “We will see a tremendous acceleration [of research] over the next 5 or 10 years,” Wenk says—similar to the recent rush of studies ...
