Compared to other biomedical fields, lipidology was long-neglected as the handling of oils, smears, and greases was unappealing to scientists and lipid separation was difficult. It was not until 2002 that lipidomics, the study of lipid networks and their interaction with other molecules, appeared in the scientific literature. Attention to the field was bolstered by the introduction of chromatography, spectrometry, and various forms of spectroscopy to the field, allowing lipids to be isolated and analyzed. The field was further popularized following the cytologic application of the electron microscope, which led scientists to find that many metabolic pathways take place within, along, and through the cell membrane - the properties of which are strongly influenced by lipid composition.