Fat Map

Like cartographers mapping out the world in different ways, scientists can produce different maps of the brain’s cells, to explore their function and connections. Each map gives a new angle, a fresh perspective on how the brain works. Here scientists map out lipids, the fatty building blocks of cell membranes. Using a technique called MALDI–MSI, they identify individual fats by mass, mapping out this mouse’s brain in 3D (showing a zoomed in 2D 'slice' here). The overall map helps the researchers to cluster different lipid 'fingerprints' into territories called ‘lipizones’ (shown as different coloured dots in this mosaic). Different lipid combinations help brain cells to carry out different functions – helping some membranes to bend more than others, insulate electrical impulses, or form connections. The team find such lipid maps are dynamic – much like maps of planet Earth – changing as life adapts to different challenges.

Written by John Ankers

• Image from work by Luca Fusar Bassini and colleagues
• Laboratory of Brain Development and Biological Data Science, Brain Mind Institute and Lipid Cell Biology Lab, Faculty of Life Sciences, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Nature, September 2026