Kin Sing Stephen Lee, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

The overall theme of my research program is to study the interactions between dietary lipids, environmental chemicals and human health in molecular level. Our lab is particularly interested in studying the molecular mechanism on how the omega-3 (DHA, EPA, Fish oil, etc) to omega-6 (Arachidonic acid, Soybean oil, etc) ratio in our diet affects human diseases. Studies show that the metabolites from omega-3 and omega-6 lipids are biologically active and could account for some of the physiological effects induced by dietary lipids. Interestingly, the omega-3 and omega-6 epoxides, which are the major metabolites of the lipids, play a critical role in inflammation, blood pressure regulation, organ protection, wound healing, cancer and pain perception. However, the underlying mechanism on how these epoxides initiate the signaling pathway remains unknown.

Our lab focuses on designing new chemical probes and using the state-of-the-art instrumentation to solve the biological problems. The current research goal is to design and synthesize the mimics of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid epoxides. The selected mimics will be used to study the molecular mechanism on how fatty acid epoxides affect human health. Recently, our lab using the selected mimic to identify the receptor of the fatty acid epoxide. In addition, the structure of the selected mimics will be further optimized to improve their drug-likeness and could be a potential drug candidate to treat diseases. The ultimate goal of my research program is to improve human health through understanding the mechanism of the biological effects induced by dietary lipids.