Provided are methods identifying a plurality of lipids in a sample that entail subjecting a first portion of the sample to mass spectrometry to obtain a full mass spectrum comprising a plurality of detected full mass values, subjecting a second portion of the sample to mass spectrometry to obtain an all-ion-fragmentation (AIF) mass spectrum comprising a plurality of detected ion fragment mass values, identifying, for each detected full mass value, one or more candidate lipids having a matched theoretical mass value, from a database comprising a plurality of lipids, a list of ion fragments for each of the lipids, and a theoretical mass value for each of the lipids and each of the ion fragments, retrieving from the database, for each of the candidate lipids, the corresponding ion fragments and theoretical mass values of the fragments, and determining that if the plurality of detected ion fragment mass values include values that match the theoretical mass values of the corresponding ion fragments of one or more of the matched lipids, then the one or more of the matched lipids are present in the sample, thereby identifying a plurality of lipids in the sample.
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