Conventional technologies for studies of adipose tissue
Whole tissue technologies	Pros	Cons
Microscopy (immunostaining/RN A FISH)	Preservation of 2D/3D structure of tissue Cellular structure and position linked to protein/RNA expression	Detection of few proteins/RNA Hypothesis-biased
Bulk tissue omics	Genome-wide quantification of transcriptome/epigenome/lipidome/metabol ome Unbiased detection High dynamic range	No cell-type or spatial resolution
Studies of cell types
FACS	Sorting of primary cell types /subpopulations Retrieval of live cells for further studies	Cell sorting based on few markers Hypothesis-biased Stressful sorting conditions Challenging for adipocyte (size and fragility)
Genetic lineage tracing	In vivo cell type specific tracing	Limitation of single CRE drivers for labelling of specific cell types Unwanted physiological effect from CRE-inducing agent Lack of quantitative output
Cell culture models	Well-defined culture conditions Immortalization enables high sample yield Ease of mechanistic studies	Lack of signals from tissue microenvironme nt Culture conditions masking biology