Research in my lab is aimed at understanding the processes of lipid absorption and metabolism. These studies are especially relevant because of the rapid increase in obesity in developed countries and the consequent rise in Type II diabetes.
In addition, hyperlipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases which remain a major couse of morbidity and mortality in "Western" cultures.
One project is focused on elucidating the intracellular steps and cellular machinery that are involved in lipid absorption and chylomicron production by the intestinal epithelium.
The second project is focused on the selective uptake of cholesterol esters from HDL by hepatocytes and the subsequent processing of that cholesterol for bile acid synthesis, lipoprotein production or secretion as biliary cholesterol.
Both projects utilize knockout mice in which the gene for carboxyl ester lipase (CEL, cholesterol esterase, bile salt stimulated lipase) has been ablated.
During active lipid absorption, these mice produce intestinal lipoproteins that are dramaticlly different in size and protein composition, suggesting that enzyme plays an important role in chylomicron synthesis and/or secretion - most likely by affecting Golgi function.
Absence of a functional CEL gene also appears to alter the processing of HDL-cholesterol by hepatocytes, resulting in changes in bile acid production and biliary cholesterol secretion.
All studies involve a combination of physiological, biochemical, and molecular techniques as well as both in vivo and in vitro (cell culture) systems.