Nanoneedles map lipids in living tissue over time
In Nature Nanotechnology, nanoneedles repeatedly sample live brain tissue for spatial lipidomics, without destroying it.
Spatial biology usually requires non-living samples, so it cannot follow changes over time. Chenlei Gu, Davide Martella and colleagues used porous silicon nanoneedles to repeatedly collect biomolecules from live brain tissue and map lipid distribution by mass spectrometry imaging. Machine learning on 23 human glioma biopsies classified disease states, and mouse gliomas treated with temozolomide showed time- and treatment-dependent lipid changes.
Gu C, Martella DA, Rose LA, … Chiappini C. Nature Nanotechnology (2025). doi:10.1038/s41565-025-01955-8