New imaging technique maps membrane lipids in 3D at nanoscale

Biological membranes of cells and their subunits (organelles) are organized into tiny regions (nanodomains) made up of fats (lipids) and proteins. Those specialized regions carry out important tasks for the cell, such as signaling, sorting, or transport. While proteins in these domains are well understood, the lipid distribution and behavior within them remain a bit of a mystery, as lipids move very quickly and existing methods struggle to visualize individual lipid species at high resolution.