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Advancing our understanding of the mechanisms that govern organelle and lipid homeostasis in health and disease
The Olzmann research group employs a combination of systems biology, chemical biology, and cell biology strategies to elucidate the principles that regulate organelle biology and cellular lipid homeostasis. We are particularly interested in understanding the regulation and functions of neutral lipid storage organelles called lipid droplets. Dysregulation of lipid droplets and lipid metabolism has been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases, including prevalent metabolic diseases (e.g. obesity and fatty liver disease) and cancer. We are also interested in dissecting the cellular mechanisms that prevent lipotoxic damage, such as the accumulation of oxidatively damaged phospholipids during ferroptosis. Leveraging chemical-genetic approaches, we seek to define ferroptosis resistance mechanisms that can be therapeutically targeted as a strategy to treat therapy-resistant forms of cancer.
RECENT NEWS
January 6, 2025
Congrats to Mike on his new manuscript out as a bioRxiv preprint – "FSP1-mediated lipid droplet quality control prevents neutral lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis"
November 26, 2024
Highlight of James Olzmann and the lab in the MCB newsletter
June 8, 2024
Congrats to Alyssa on her new manuscript out as a bioRxiv preprint – "CLCC1 promotes hepatic neutral lipid flux and nuclear pore complex assembly"
March 7, 2024
Congrats to Alyssa on her new review out in Nature Cell Biology – "Lipid droplets and cellular lipid flux"
February 16, 2024
New review with Scott Dixon in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology – "The cell biology of ferroptosis"
FEATURED ARTICLES
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Li et al.
Nature Chem Biol 2022
Reveals selenium metabolism and ribosome stalling as ferroptosis vulnerabilities
Bersuker et al.
Nature 2019
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Identifies the CoQ oxidoreductase FSP1 as a powerful ferroptosis suppressor in cancer
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