 Among the technologies being developed to address this challenge is Nanostructure-Initiator MS (NIMS), a desorption/ ionization approach that does not require the application of matrix and thereby facilitates small-molecule (i.e., metabolite) identification.MALDI is also used however, the application of a MALDI matrix can add significant background at <1000 Da that complicates analysis of the low-mass range (i.e., metabolites).In addition, the size of the resulting matrix crystals limits the spatial resolution that can be achieved in tissue imaging.