Sensing and mapping lipid species in living cells has been challenging. Here, we show that hyperspectral fingerprint opto-acoustic microscopy (HyFOPM) achieves label-free visualization of specific lipid species, including sphingomyelin and cholesterol, within living cells. This technology could offer insight into lipid metabolism and disease without requiring fluorescence or other exogenous tags.
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This is a summary of: Gasparin, F. et al. Differentiation of sphingomyelin and cholesterol by hyperspectral mid-infrared detection of single-bond vibrational modes in the fingerprint region. Nat. Methods https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-026-03025-w (2026).
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Optoacoustic microscopy for detecting lipid fingerprints in living cells. Nat Methods (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-026-03024-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-026-03024-x
