HHNS Seminar Speaker Series: Following white rabbits and black mice: Novel enzymes, bioactive lipids, and their pathways through the looking glass

Dr. Robin Duncan is the Associate Professor of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences in the Faculty of Health at the University of Waterloo and director of the Lipid Enzyme Discovery Lab. Her research program focuses on characterizing novel enzymes in lipid metabolism. With the support of NSERC and the Barth Syndrome Foundation, her lab has discovered a role for the enzyme PLAAT1, and its downstream bioactive endocannabinoid signaling products, in cardiolipin metabolism. Results from that work, coupled with a desire to help find solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, sparked the development of a CIHR-supported program on anti-viral effects of newly legalized cannabinoids, as well as a tangential interest in the role of mushroom psychotropics in food intake regulation and metabolism. Dr. Duncan will discuss new directions sparked by following metabolic pathways "through the looking glass."