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The Hla lab is investigating the biology of the lipid mediator sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P). We are focused on the role of S1P signaling in embryonic development, normal physiology and disease processes relevant to cancer, vascular and immune systems.

While most cells produce S1P in the intracellular environment as a terminal product of sphingolipid metabolism, vertebrates secrete S1P into the extracellular environment by specific transporters (Proia RL, Hla T. Emerging biology of sphingosine-1-phosphate: its role in pathogenesis and therapy. J...

Researchers in the Hla lab develop protocols utilizing cutting edge technology combined with classical techniques and model systems to explore the fundamental biology of the vascular system and the diseases that affect it. Click title to open PDF:

2024 Kuo A, Hla T. Regulation of cellular and systemic sphingolipid homeostasis. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2024 Jun 18. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38890457. Lin YC, Swendeman S, Moreira IS, Ghosh A, Kuo A, Rosário-Ferreira N, Guo S, Culbertson A, Levesque MV, Cartier A, Seno T, Schmaier A, Galvani S...

We are exploring the hypothesis that biased agonists of the S1PRs will have unique signaling properties and therefore specific pharmacological properties. In addition, functional antagonists that target S1PRs to degradative pathways will likely lead to unique pharmacological properties and able to...