Imaging mass spectrometry: Molecular microscopy for enabling a new age of discovery

The molecular expression from genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic processes ongoing in living cells is enormously complex, continuously challenging our ability to measure and understand their integrated totality.Important biological studies and advances in the understanding of the biochemistry and biology of living cells have most often been preceded by innovations in the technology used to probe cells, tissues, and animals that then facilitate new insightful observations.A great deal has been learned over the decades about individual enzymes and pathways from isolated samples and extracts from a wide variety of bacterial and animal sources and much progress has been made toward integrating these findings into a framework that describes the underlying biology.This reductionist approach has and will continue to be important; however, there exists a multitude of biological and clinical problems that will only be solved using a systems approach.The innovative and groundbreaking advances in genomic technology and the resultant information has led to a dramatic increase in our ability to measure and predict many of the molecular events involving both genotypic and proteomic processes.Today, multiplex molecular interactions and pathway connectivity can be understood through both direct measurement and predictive models in an impressive attempt to understand this totality at this point in our current knowledge.Although these efforts have greatly advanced our understanding of biological processes, the end game remains far off, especially since spatial and temporal dimensions are yet to be fully explored and integrated into this view of the intact integrated cell.Further, cells react with their environment so that even the same basic cell type will have altered expression depending on their local cellular environment.Although the overall task is daunting, investigators continue to make impressive breakthroughs in understanding this complexity and interdependence.Understanding the spatial arrangement of biomolecules in tissues and cells remains an area of intense interest.Imaging platforms, such a microscopy, NMR, positron emission tomography, and many more, have brought valuable insight into this important field.One significant new molecular technology in this regard is imaging mass spectrometry (IMS), bringing unparalleled molecular specificity and sensitivity to create molecular image maps of molecules in tissues.In essence, one can produce a series of images, each presented at aThe authors have declared no conflict of interest.