“The ups and downs of life as a plant sphingolipid” will be presented by Dr. Jonathan Markham, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry, UNL.

Research in the Markham lab is focused on understanding the organization of (sphingo)lipid metabolism and how metabolic components of this pathway can influence critical cell-fate decisions. Our philosophy is that in order to be able to understand how metabolites are involved in metabolic and physiological life processes, one must be able to measure them - seeing is believing! We use the latest tools in biochemistry - mass spectrometry - to measure many molecules involved in plant sphingolipid biochemistry including – but not limited to – fatty acids, steroids, amino acids, sphingolipids, glycerolipids, nucleotide phosphates and UDP/GDP-sugars. By obtaining accurate measurements of these molecules in different genetic backgrounds, we are able to piece together how the different structures contribute towards sphingolipid biochemistry, cellular signalling and plant physiology.