Nano werk: New EU project focuses on lipidomics technology
New EU project focuses on lipidomics technology
Europe has so far played a pioneering and leading role in the biochemistry and analysis of lipids and most of the leading mass spectrometry providers are European companies. These mass spectrometry based nano-scale and high throughput technologies combined with molecular imaging and modern information technology will certainly revolutionize our understanding of the complex interaction networks in a functioning cell and how lipids together with genes and proteins determine cellular functions in health and disease.
Lipids are central to the regulation and control of cellular processes by acting as basic building units for biomembranes, the platforms for the vast majority of cellular functions. Recent developments in lipid mass spectrometry have set the scene for a completely new way to understand the composition of membranes, cells and tissues in space and time by allowing the precise identification and quantification of alterations of the total lipid profile after specific perturbations. In combination with advanced proteome and transcriptome analysis tools and novel imaging techniques using RNA interference, it is now possible to unravel the complex network between lipids, genes and proteins in an integrated lipidomics approach.
Labels: EU, Lipidomics, Research
