2023
Research News
Researchers Review Technical Advances, Challenges and Promises of Single-cell Lipidomics
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Compared to single-cell genomics and single-cell transcriptomics, which define what a cell can do and plans to do, single-cell lipidomics provides the closest readout of the actual phenotype of what has happened.
In a recent review, researchers led by Prof. SHUI Guanghou from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences summarized and discussed various aspects of single cell lipidomics, including single-cell sampling techniques, single-cell lipidome acquisition, the urgent need for high coverage, accurate identification and quantitative measurements in single-cell lipidomics, single-cell lipidomics data analysis, and the biological and translational promises of single-cell lipidomics, including cell lineage tracing, tumor heterogeneity and diverse immune responses to disease.
This review is recently published in Trends in Analytical Chemistry.
According to the researchers, the development of single-cell lipidomics is still in its early stage and more biological and clinical applications will emerge as the field advances. Technological breakthroughs have revolutionized the way we approach biology, marked by a transition from bulk assays to a focus on single molecules and single cells.
As they examined the biological tissues at higher resolution, subtle differences were revealed that can open up new avenues of research, providing unique answers to long-standing questions in various aspects of basic biology and clinical medicine.
However, technical bottlenecks in single-cell lipidomics, especially low analytical coverage and problems with accurate identification and quantification, limit its wide application. Continued efforts are urgently needed to overcome these barriers.
In general, the researchers summarized the current technological advances and bottlenecks in single-cell lipidomics, and discussed the unique technical challenges in analyzing lipids within single cells, with particular emphasis on the importance of accurate lipid identification and quantification.
Applications of single-cell lipidomics. (Image by IGDB)
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