massPix: an R package for annotation and interpretation of mass spectrometry imaging data for lipidomics

INTRODUCTION: Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) experiments result in complex multi-dimensional datasets, which require specialist data analysis tools. OBJECTIVES: We have developed massPix—an R package for analysing and interpreting data from MSI of lipids in tissue. METHODS: massPix produces single ion images, performs multivariate statistics and provides putative lipid annotations based on accurate mass matching against generated lipid libraries. RESULTS: Classification of tissue regions with high spectral similarly can be carried out by principal components analysis (PCA) or k-means clustering. CONCLUSION: massPix is an open-source tool for the analysis and statistical interpretation of MSI data, and is particularly useful for lipidomics applications.