Once viewed simply as a reservoir for carbon storage, lipids are no longer cast as
bystanders in the drama of biological systems. The emerging field of lipidomics is driven by
technology, most notably mass spectrometry, but also by complementary approaches for the
detection and characterization of lipids and their biosynthetic enzymes in living cells. The
development of these integrated tools promises to greatly advance our understanding of the
diverse biological roles of lipids.