Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1841 (2014) 1021
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bbalip
Preface
Tools to study lipid functions
Over the past two decades, our view of lipids has evolved substantially. We now appreciate that membrane lipids serve a plethora of functions beyond the traditional role as a structural element of threedimensional barriers segregating compartments. Membrane lipids are actively involved in a wide range of membrane-dependent processes such as forming nano-scale sub-domains or at an atomic level in regulating individual membrane proteins or macromolecular complexes. Due to the vast diversity of lipid structures, the functions of lipid species are not only restricted to membranes but also extended into the cytoplasm and extracellular spaces, including a broad variety of signaling lipids. Our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of lipid actions has steadily increased in large part due to the rapidly expanding repertoire of tools, techniques, and instrumental advances to study lipid functions in a cellular context. The fields of genomics and proteomics led to striking advances in biomedical research that are now being built upon by exciting discoveries in the field of lipidomics. In this Special Issue of BBA — Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids a selection of novel tools and techniques that will facilitate a better understanding of the eclectic functions is highlighted.
H. Alex Brown is the Bixler–Johnson–Mayes Professor of Pharmacology and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Alex received his PhD degree in 1992 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, pursued postdoctoral training in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center, and then joined the faculty at Cornell University in 1996 with appointments in Pharmacology, and Biochemistry Molecular & Cell Biology. He received the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research Scholar award in 1997. Early in his career, Alex began to develop the field of computational lipidomics in his laboratory utilizing electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and then in 2002 contributed this emerging technology to the Alliance for Cellular Signaling (AfCS) research program as Director of the first Lipidomics Laboratory. Later that year, Alex was recruited to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine as the Ingram Professor of Cancer Research in Pharmacology. Alex continued to develop lipidomics as Director of the Glycerophospholipid Core for the LIPID Metabolites and Pathways Strategy (LIPID MAPS) consortium since 2003. He has served on the editorial board for the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Lipid Research, various NIH study sections, ASBMB publications committee, and as associate editor of Molecular Pharmacology from 2006 until 2009. In addition, Alex previously served as editor of a three volume Methods in Enzymology series on Lipidomics and Bioactive Lipids published in 2007, and editor of a thematic issue on lipid biochemistry for Chemical Reviews in 2011, and has organized multiple conferences on lipid metabolism & signaling. In 2009, he published the first isoform-preferring inhibitors of phospholipase D. Alex received the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) “High Impact Publications Award” in 2010, as well as the Vanderbilt University Medical Center “Leadership of a Multi-Investigator Team Award” with Craig Lindsley in 2011. Alex has been the Associate Director of System Analysis for the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology (VICB) since 2011. Research in his lab focuses on identification of the roles of lipid molecular species and phospholipases in cellular functions and human disease.
Britta Brügger1 Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH), Im Neuenheimer Feld 328, R308, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]. Corresponding author.
Britta Brügger completed her PhD at Heidelberg University, working in the laboratory of Felix Wieland on intracellular lipid sorting. In that time she established quantitative analysis of lipids by nano-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. She then joined the laboratory of Dr. James E. Rothman at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to study SNARE-mediated membrane fusion. In 2000, she returned to Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH) and established the BZH Lipidomics Platform. The laboratory studies protein–lipid and lipid– lipid interactions within the membrane, using multidisciplinary approaches in chemical biology, biophysics and cell biology.
Alex Brown2 Dept. of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, 37235 TN, USA E-mail address: [email protected].
1 2
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbalip.2014.06.001 1388-1981/© 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Tel.: +49 6221 54 5426; fax: +49 6221 54 4366. Tel.: +1 615 936 3888.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bbalip
Preface
Tools to study lipid functions
Over the past two decades, our view of lipids has evolved substantially. We now appreciate that membrane lipids serve a plethora of functions beyond the traditional role as a structural element of threedimensional barriers segregating compartments. Membrane lipids are actively involved in a wide range of membrane-dependent processes such as forming nano-scale sub-domains or at an atomic level in regulating individual membrane proteins or macromolecular complexes. Due to the vast diversity of lipid structures, the functions of lipid species are not only restricted to membranes but also extended into the cytoplasm and extracellular spaces, including a broad variety of signaling lipids. Our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of lipid actions has steadily increased in large part due to the rapidly expanding repertoire of tools, techniques, and instrumental advances to study lipid functions in a cellular context. The fields of genomics and proteomics led to striking advances in biomedical research that are now being built upon by exciting discoveries in the field of lipidomics. In this Special Issue of BBA — Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids a selection of novel tools and techniques that will facilitate a better understanding of the eclectic functions is highlighted.
H. Alex Brown is the Bixler–Johnson–Mayes Professor of Pharmacology and Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Alex received his PhD degree in 1992 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, pursued postdoctoral training in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center, and then joined the faculty at Cornell University in 1996 with appointments in Pharmacology, and Biochemistry Molecular & Cell Biology. He received the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research Scholar award in 1997. Early in his career, Alex began to develop the field of computational lipidomics in his laboratory utilizing electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and then in 2002 contributed this emerging technology to the Alliance for Cellular Signaling (AfCS) research program as Director of the first Lipidomics Laboratory. Later that year, Alex was recruited to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine as the Ingram Professor of Cancer Research in Pharmacology. Alex continued to develop lipidomics as Director of the Glycerophospholipid Core for the LIPID Metabolites and Pathways Strategy (LIPID MAPS) consortium since 2003. He has served on the editorial board for the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Lipid Research, various NIH study sections, ASBMB publications committee, and as associate editor of Molecular Pharmacology from 2006 until 2009. In addition, Alex previously served as editor of a three volume Methods in Enzymology series on Lipidomics and Bioactive Lipids published in 2007, and editor of a thematic issue on lipid biochemistry for Chemical Reviews in 2011, and has organized multiple conferences on lipid metabolism & signaling. In 2009, he published the first isoform-preferring inhibitors of phospholipase D. Alex received the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) “High Impact Publications Award” in 2010, as well as the Vanderbilt University Medical Center “Leadership of a Multi-Investigator Team Award” with Craig Lindsley in 2011. Alex has been the Associate Director of System Analysis for the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology (VICB) since 2011. Research in his lab focuses on identification of the roles of lipid molecular species and phospholipases in cellular functions and human disease.
Britta Brügger1 Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH), Im Neuenheimer Feld 328, R308, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]. Corresponding author.
Britta Brügger completed her PhD at Heidelberg University, working in the laboratory of Felix Wieland on intracellular lipid sorting. In that time she established quantitative analysis of lipids by nano-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. She then joined the laboratory of Dr. James E. Rothman at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to study SNARE-mediated membrane fusion. In 2000, she returned to Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center (BZH) and established the BZH Lipidomics Platform. The laboratory studies protein–lipid and lipid– lipid interactions within the membrane, using multidisciplinary approaches in chemical biology, biophysics and cell biology.
Alex Brown2 Dept. of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, 37235 TN, USA E-mail address: [email protected].
1 2
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbalip.2014.06.001 1388-1981/© 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Tel.: +49 6221 54 5426; fax: +49 6221 54 4366. Tel.: +1 615 936 3888.
