Lipidomics: An emerging mass spectrometry field.
The human body contains over 20 % lipids, but for many years lipids were ignored as scientific focus of biomedical research. During the last decade more and more evidence is published that lipids are the key to the regulation of many cellular processes. In general, lipids are essential for energy homeostasis, building functional membranes and have a central role in signal transduction. In return, lipid metabolic pathways are involved in many diseases like cancer, neurodegeneration, inflammatory disorders and metabolic syndrome. This is especially true for the latter one, which mirrors the pandemic of obesity, causing an enormous annual health burden on a global scale.
Because the cellular lipid metabolism comprises a high structural complexity and biosynthetic pathways are interconnected it is an analytical challenge to provide molecular snapshots of cellular lipidomes. To foster lipidomics technologies in biomedical and pharmacological research, the special interest group Lipid Analytics and Lipidomics provides a platform for interaction of international acknowledged scientists, students and young researchers. Specifically, we discuss emerging MS strategies, software developments and evolving applications in lipid science. We encourage all scientists interested in lipid research to participate in our workshops at the DGMS annual conference and the LIPIDOMICS FORUM.