Thematic Minireview Series on Biological Applications of Mass Spectrometry

Mass spectrometry is a powerful technique with many applications in biology as well as chemistry and physics. The increases in sensitivity and resolution of the instruments, coupled with improvements in the analysis of data, have opened new dimensions in analyses of complex biological systems. Examples presented here include drug metabolism, lipid analysis, metabolomics, quantitative proteomics, direct analysis of intact proteins, and imaging of both small molecules and proteins in tissues.