Lipidomics

Metabolomics is on the precipice of transforming from a research tool into a powerful clinical platform to improve precision medicine. However, metabolomics methods need to be validated in clinical research to enable rapid translation of research results into clinical tests.

Pinpointing double bond (C=C) positions in native lipid extracts is beyond the capabilities of standard mass spectrometry-based approaches. This article highlights a novel untargeted workflow supported by the open-source software MS-RIDD, that allows for semi-automated annotation of C=C locations with high confidence.

Giovanni D’Angelo and Gioele La Manno present the concept of lipotypes, and suggest that lipid composition is an important regulator of cell fate.

The rapid increase in lipidomic data has triggered a community-based movement to develop guidelines and minimum requirements for generating, reporting and publishing lipidomic data. The creation of a dynamic checklist summarizing key details of lipidomic analyses using a common language has the potential to harmonize the field by improving both traceability and reproducibility.

High-throughput and ultrasensitive mass spectrometry–based approaches are gaining ground in subcellular compositional analysis.

We have lost a distinguished biochemist who dedicated his career to the study of phosphatidylinositol signalling in metabolic regulation and to the advancement of lipidomics.