New Analytical Technologies to Resolve, Interpret, and Understand Lipid Complexity

The rapid and continued development of mass spectrometry-based technologies has significantly increased the capability to study and characterize lipids while providing new insight into the complex roles of lipids throughout biology. These capabilities have included the ability to quantify, structurally characterize (including resolving isomers that pose significant challenges to lipidomics), and spatially map lipids within numerous complex organisms, revealing new capabilities in emerging areas such as single-cell analysis. With these rapid developments, several challenges have emerged, such as accurate lipid identification, incorrect and overinterpretation of mass spectrometry data and structural assignments, and the need for improved analytical and bioinformatics tools to understand lipidomics data at the pathway and systems levels. This review critically assesses analytical technologies used for lipidomics studies, along with current challenges and technological developments driving the field forward. By highlighting these challenges, and possible avenues to address them, this review emphasizes the excitement for the future of lipidomics and the need for continued development of analytical tools to enhance our understanding lipid biology.