Lipidomics

Profiling of the individual lipids in biological fluids is of great concern with respect to human health and disease; as a consequence, the task of lipid analysis and profiling has become ever increasingly important, and lipidomics has become the target of postgenomic research. The structural diversity of lipids has always challenged analytical chemists, which have been on the forefront of separation science, and has greatly spurred the development of new technologies aimed at a full characterization of these biomolecules. A typical work-flow diagram for lipidomics study involve lipid extraction from the matrix, ionization in a proper source, and subsequent mass spectrometry analysis by direct infusion or after a front-end separation step.