Regulation of glycosphingolipid levels: quantitative modeling of glycosphingolipid homeostasis

人体细胞含有许多脂肪和脂肪样分子。 这些脂肪，或“脂质”，具有各种不同的化学结构。 根据其化学结构，人类脂质可分为许多家族。 脂质家族之一，GS-脂质，是本研究提案的重点。 GS-脂质在许多生物过程中具有重要作用，例如大脑和皮肤发育以及免疫。 无论是太少还是太多的GS-脂质都有戏剧性的后果，包括失明，癫痫，男性不育和过早死亡。 显然，我们体内的细胞保持适当的GS脂质水平是很重要的。 然而，目前我们还不了解细胞是如何管理其GS脂质水平的。 这就是为什么我计划研究这种类型的脂质的调节。 我将使用许多不同的方法来确定培养细胞中GS-脂质产生和降解的速率。 这些研究将为细胞脂质家族提供新的见解，这是人类细胞必不可少的生化活动。 我的研究可能有助于更好地理解依赖于GS-脂质的生物过程。

Human cells contain many fat and fat-like molecules. These fats, or "lipids", have all kinds of different chemical structures. On the basis of their chemical structures, human lipids can be grouped into a number of families. One of the lipid families, GS-lipids, is the focus of this research proposal. GS-lipids have essential roles in many biological processes, such as brain and skin development and immunity. Both too little as well as too much of GS-lipids have dramatic consequences, including blindness, epilepsy, male infertility and early death. Clearly, it is important that the cells in our bodies maintain just the right levels of GS-lipids. At the moment, however, we do not understand how cells manage the levels of their GS-lipids. That is why I plan to investigate the regulation of this type of lipids. I will use a number of different approaches to determine the rates of GS-lipid production and degradation in cultured cells. These studies will provide new insights in the cellular lipid household, which is an essential biochemical activity human cells. My research may further help to better understand the biological processes that are dependent on GS-lipids.