Abstract 3025 Tracing and modeling compound lipid homeostasis to understand disease mechanisms

Metabolism is central to virtually all cellular functions and contributes to diseases like cancer, metabolic syndrome, and neuropathy. My laboratory applies stable isotope tracers, mass spectrometry, and metabolic flux analysis (MFA) to quantify metabolism in cells, animal models, and human patients. We are particularly interested in understanding how amino acid and lipid metabolism are coordinated in the context of cancer, diabetes, and neuropathy. A central focus of these studies is sphingolipid biosynthesis via serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT), which integrates amino acid and fatty acid signals into the membrane lipidome through its promiscuity and responsiveness to substrate availability.