Biography

I have a long history of interdisciplinary, multi-investigator, biomedical research projects as illustrated by both my Ph.D. and postdoctoral work being completed with two advisers each focusing on the interface between chemistry and biology. A major tool for which my lab has become a premier practitioner is the synthetic incorporation of specific isotopic labeling patterns into a variety of small organic molecules to answer difficult questions.
Since beginning my independent career in 2006 I have published over 60 manuscripts that address areas of science spanning from pure mechanistic organic chemical synthesis to vertebrate biology. My primary interest lies in understanding the science, and translational impact of lipid metabolism, signaling, and trafficking. This interest began during my Ph.D. studying how the FABP class of proteins can target their ligands intracellularly. Currently, most of the effort of my lab is devoted to understanding two narrow aspects lipid and retinoid metabolism, and developing strategies from these studies for novel small-molecule based therapeutic approaches. In terms of lipid metabolism, our efforts are centered on the novel metabolic pathways discovered in collaboration with Zhang and Brunengraber showing that these molecules are catabolized via previously undescribed pathways involving unique phosphorylation–rearrangement cascade. This collaboration has spanned more than twelve years and led to the publishing of 16 collaborative manuscripts along with the training of four joint graduate students over this period of time.