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| Seated, left to right: Thad Rosenberger, PhD; Heidi Gienger, laboratory technician; Carole Haselton, research specialist; and Eric Murphy, PhD. Standing, left to right: Brock Thuen, laboratory technician; students, Stephen Brose, Dhaval Bhatt, and Drew Seeger; Kaylee Borgerson, laboratory technician; and Svetlana Golovko, research specialist. |
Lipid biochemistry is about as complex as it gets—essential for life, but a real bummer if it goes awry.
It’s what keeps Eric Murphy, PhD, and his colleagues—Mikhail Golovko, PhD, and Thad Rosenberger, PhD—digging deep into brain chemistry. They’re the School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ lipid group in the Department of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics (PPT).
These “three musketeers” of lipid biochemistry are on a biochemical quest to help science understand how lipids do their thing in the brain. And that means finding effective therapies or even cures for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases.
“In my lab, for example, we’re focusing on fatty acid metabolism in the brain and how proteins influence that process,” Murphy noted. “Golovko’s research focuses on downstream metabolites of arachidonic acid. Rosenberger studies the role of lipid metabolism in brain inflammation. All of these things come together for a great deal of synergism.”
“We’re the only team in the U.S. with three lipid biochemists focused on this kind of research at the interface of lipid metabolism and biochemistry,” Murphy said.
