Physics

Sociology

Organic chemistry

Modalities

Social science

Human–computer interaction

MALDI imaging

Optics

Adsorption

Artificial intelligence

Mass spectrometry

Desorption

Mass spectrometry imaging

Chemistry

Focus (optics)

Modality (human–computer interaction)

Computer science

Chromatography

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization

Frontiers in Chemistry

Multimodal imaging is a powerful strategy for combining information from multiple images. It involves several fields in the acquisition, processing and interpretation of images. As multimodal imaging is a vast subject area with various combinations of imaging techniques, it has been extensively reviewed. Here we focus on Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MALDI-MSI) coupling other imaging modalities in multimodal approaches. While MALDI-MS images convey a substantial amount of chemical information, they are not readily informative about the morphological nature of the tissue. By providing a supplementary modality, MALDI-MS images can be more informative and better reflect the nature of the tissue. In this mini review, we emphasize the analytical and computational strategies to address multimodal MALDI-MSI.

MALDI-MSI Towards Multimodal Imaging: Challenges and Perspectives