Systems Biology and Metabolism

Large-scale, quantitative, high-quality data sets often form the basis for discovery. We employ techniques such as mass spectrometry, genome-perturbations screens, and high-content microcopy to generate hypotheses or models for biological processes. For example, our laboratory uses powerful state-of-the-art proteomics and lipidomics to obtain global insights into the regulation of lipid metabolism. Once we have identified important regulatory circuitry, we combine our ability to determine abundances of molecules with methodologies, such as live cell imaging, to generate hypotheses and investigate these dynamic processes on the cellular and physiological level.

Song J, Mizrak A, Lee CW, Cicconet M, Lai ZW, Lu CH, Mohr SE, Farese RV Jr**, Walther TC**. (2022). Identification of two pathways mediating protein targeting from ER to lipid droplets. Nat Cell Biol. 24(9):1364-1377.

Mejhert N, Gabriel KR, Frendo-Cumbo S, Krahmer N, Song J, Kuruvilla L, Chitraju C, Boland S, Jang DK, von Grotthuss M, Costanzo MC, Rydén M, Olzmann JA, Flannick J, Burtt NP, Farese RV Jr**, Walther TC**. (2022) The Lipid Droplet Knowledge Portal: A resource for systematic analyses of lipid droplet biology. Dev Cell. 57(3):387-397.

Christiano R*, Arlt H*, Kabatnik S, Mejhert N, Lai ZW, Farese RV Jr**, Walther TC**. (2020) A systematic protein turnover map for decoding protein degradation. Cell Rep. 33(6):108378.

Mejhert N, et al. (2020) Partitioning of MLX-Family Transcription Factors to Lipid Droplets Regulates Metabolic Gene Expression. Mol Cell. 77(6):1251-1264.e9.

Piccolis, M., Bond, L., et al.  (2019). Probing the Global Cellular Responses to Lipotoxicity Caused by Saturated Fatty Acids. Mol Cell. 74(1), 32-44.e8.

Li, Z., et al. (2018). Global Analyses of Selective Insulin Resistance in Hepatocytes Caused by Palmitate Lipotoxicity. Mol Cell Proteomics. 17(5), 836-849.

Fröhlich, F., et al. (2016). Proteomic and phosphoproteomic analyses of yeast reveal the global cellular response to sphingolipid depletion. Proteomics. 16(21), 2759-2763.

Currie, E et al. (2014) High confidence proteomic analysis of yeast LDs identifies additional droplet proteins and reveals connections to dolichol synthesis and sterol acetylation. J. Lipid Res. 55(7):1465-1477.

Krahmer, N et al. (2013) Protein correlation profiles identify lipid droplet proteins with high confidence. Mol. Cell Proteomics 12(5):1115-1126