Abstract submission is now open!
Wednesday, November 5th, 2025
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm Arrival and Registration
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm Welcome Reception (Pisgah & Pilot)
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm Dinner (Pisgah & Pilot)
7:45 pm – 8:00 pm Welcome and Opening Remarks (Mitchell & Roan)
Jason Newton, Virginia Commonwealth University
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm Keynote Presentation
Sarah Spiegel, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University
Title: My journey with Sphingosine-1-Phosphate: from insipid lipid to a key lipid mediator
9:00 pm – 11:00 pm Social Time and Preliminary Poster Viewing (Pisgah & Pilot)
Thursday, November 6th, 2025
8:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast (Pisgah & Pilot)
9:00 am – 10:15 am Oral Session I (Mitchell & Roan) Lipids in Cancer and Inflammation
Session Chairs: Chris Green and Aaron Birchfield, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:00 am SPTLC3 and Non-Canonical Sphingolipids in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Emerging Drivers of Tumor Progression and Metabolic Dysregulation. Maryam Jamil, PhD, Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:15 am Intracellular Complement Signaling Plays a Critical Role in S1P/S1PR1-mediated Inflammasome Activation and Tumor Metastasis. Salih Gencer, PhD. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina
9:30 am Adipocyte Sphingosine Kinase 2 Regulates Susceptibility to Obesity and MASH-driven Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Yadu Vijayan, PhD, Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:45 am Exploring Macrophage Sphingosine Kinase 2 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Sumit Saha, Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
10:00 am Glycerol Channel Aquaporin-3 is Significantly Upregulated at the Corneas’ Wound Edge in Mice. Sam Melnyk, Department of Physiology, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
10:15 am Role of Beta-Glucosylceramidase in the Regulation of Multidrug Resistance Transporters and Chemoresistance. Karyme Garcia Lopez, School of Life Sciences and Sustainability, Virginia Commonwealth University
10:30 am – 10:30 am Break
10:30 am – 11:30 am Oral Session II (Mitchell & Roan) Lipids in Neurological Disorders
Session Chairs: Cynthia Weigel, Virginia Commonwealth University and Ally Brawner, Clemson University
10:30 am Ceramide-rich Extracellular Vesicles as Biomarkers and Mediators of Neuronal Dysfunction After Traumatic Brain Injury. Zainuddin Quadri, PhD, Department of Physiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington
10:45 am Dysregulated Fatty Acyl Chain Elongation May Drive Altered Sphingolipid Hydroxylation in Niemann-Pick Type C Disease. Shashank Nadimpalli, School of Life Sciences and Sustainability, Virginia Commonwealth University
11:00 am Sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 regulates competition-dependent astrocyte morphogenesis in the murine cortex. Jean Patrick Gonzales, Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
11:15 am Beyond α-Synuclein: Membrane Remodeling and Disrupted Signaling in GBA-Associated Parkinson’s Disease. Lauren Kupec, School of Life Sciences and Sustainability, Virginia Commonwealth University
11:30 am – 12:30 pm Keynote Presentation
Fred Maxfield, PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine
Title: How macrophages digest objects too large to phagocytose: Relevance to lipoproteins and atherosclerosis
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch (Pisgah & Pilot)
1:30 pm – 4:00 pm. Free time
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Poster Session (Pisgah & Pilot) and Cocktail Hour
Poster Session Chairs: Usha Mahawar and Jean Patrick Gonzales, Virginia Commonwealth University
6:00 pm – 6:15 pm Awards ceremony (Mitchell & Roan)
6:15 pm – 6:30 pm Presentation of the Lina Obeid Young Scientist Award
6:30 pm – 7:00 pm Lina Obeid Young Scientist Award Lecture
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm. SERLC Banquet- Pisgah & Pilot/ Mitchell & Roan
8:00 pm – 11:00 pm Live Bluegrass Entertainment featuring the Asheville Mountain Boys
and Square Dancing- Pisgah & Pilot/ Mitchell & Roan
Friday, November 7th, 2025
8:00 am – 9:00 am Breakfast (Pisgah & Pilot)
9:00 am – 10:00 am Oral Session III (Mitchell & Roan) Lipidomics and Advances in Lipid Technology and Therapeutics
Session chairs: Jonathan Ma, Weill Cornell Medicine and Anna Kovilakath, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:00 am Selective degradation of SPT-bound ORMDLs is a longer-term regulatory mechanism to regulate SPT and Sphingolipid levels. Usha Mahawar, PhD, Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:15 am PFAS recognition by lipid transport proteins: Structural and biochemical insights from FABP4 and SCP2. Aaron Birchfield, PhD, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:30 am Increasing apoAI-mediated cholesterol efflux in cultured pro-inflammatory endothelial cells via cell-specific nanotherapy. Ally Brawner, Department of Food, Nutrition, and Packaging Sciences; Clemson University
9:45 am Detection of Ferritinophagic Flux Using Halotag Technology. Sachin Kumar Kempelingaiah, Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
10:00 am – 10:45 am Break - please make sure you are checked out of the hotel at this time.
10:45 am – 11:45 pm Oral Session IV (Mitchell & Roan) Lipids in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease
Session Chairs: Zain Quadri, University of Kentucky, Lexington and Maryam Jamil, Virginia Commonwealth University
10:45 am Lipid signaling activates the inflammatory pathways in macrophages, leading to beta cell death and type 1 diabetes development. Thi Yen Ly Huynh, PhD, Department of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
11:00 am Ceramide synthase 2 and 5 have opposing roles in a mouse model of diastolic dysfunction. Anna Kovilakath, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Pauley Heart Center, Virginia Commonwealth University
11:15 am Cholesterol transport during digestive exophagy and its roles in foam cell formation. Johnathan Ma, PhD, Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine
11:30 am The Double Life of Spinster Homolog 2:Sending S1P Out, Bringing Glucose In. Cynthia Weigel, PhD, Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
12:00 pm – 12:30 pm Closing Remarks and SERLC Business meeting to plan for 2026 Conference.
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch (Pisgah & Pilot)
1:30 pm 58th SERLC Meeting adjourned.