In the meantime, the new lipidome establishes benchmark levels for 588 lipid species, based on a new human plasma standard reference material (SRM) developed by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in collaboration with the National Institutes of Standards. The SRM was prepared by obtaining plasma samples from 100 individuals between 40 and 50 years of age, whose ethnicity and gender was representative of the U.S. population.

"I look at this lipidome as something like the human genome project," said Quehenberger. "First you have to do the sequencing. You have to know what genes - or in this case, fats - are there. Then you can begin to look at individual species, do association studies and discover how these molecules fit into systems, processes and diseases."

The lipidome is part of the larger, on-going LIPID MAPS project, which received a second five-year renewal grant in 2008 for almost $38 million. LIPID MAPS brings together researchers in a dozen research laboratories at nine universities, medical research institutes and life sciences companies. UC San Diego serves as lead institution and information clearinghouse.

Source: University of California -- San Diego