Sphingolipid complexity
Our laboratory works on sphingolipids, critical membrane components involved in membrane structure and in signaling. We focus on two main areas, namely (i) sphingolipid complexity, attempting to understand why there are so many individual lipid species in biological membranes and how their levels are regulated, and (ii) what happens when sphingolipid metabolism is altered in human diseases, specifically in sphingolipid storage diseases such as Gaucher disease, and the relationship of Gaucher disease to Parkinson’s disease.