Cambridge Metabolism

As a PhD student in the Griffin group, I study the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress in metabolic syndromes. I currently use S. cerevisiae as a model for ER stress with the intention of looking at lipidomic and proteomic changes upon exposure to a simulated diet with high saturate fats. My project aims to develop a sub-cellular lipidomic tool to monitor dynamic changes in location and volume of individual species of lipids and proteins to elucidate their role in metabolic syndrome development. This will increase our understanding of the role ER stress and its interactions with other organelles plays in metabolic syndrome development. The tool I am developing will also be useful not only for metabolic syndromes but also neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. Techniques i use include open profiling of lipids using an Velos orbitrap (LC-MS) and gene expression via rtPCR. In the future i will also be using proteomic mass spectrometry and western blotting in parrallel to these techniques.