Microscale magnetic resonance detectors: a technology roadmap for in vivo metabolomics

One of the great challenges in biology is to observe, at sufficient detail, the real-time workings of the cell. Many methods exist to do cell measurements invasively. For example, mass spectrometry has tremendous mass sensitivity but destroys the cell. Molecular tagging can reveal exquisite detail using STED microscopy, but is currently neither relevant for a large number of different molecules, nor is it applicable to very small molecules. For marker free non-invasive measurements, only magnetic resonance has sufficient molecular specificity, but the technique suffers from low sensitivity and resolution. In this presentation we will consider the roadmap for achieving in vivo metabolomic measurements with more sensitivity and resolution. The roadmap will point towards the technological advances that are necessary for magnetic resonance microscopy to answer questions relevant to cell biology.