Sphingolipids and Metabolic Disease

L. Ashley Cowart obtained her BS in Biology in 1995 from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and her PhD in Biochemistry in 2001 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennesee. After postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Yusuf Hannun, she joined the faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina, where she currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Cowart’s main research focus is the regulation of sphingolipid metabolism in diabetes and obesity and the roles of sphingolipids in pathological outcomes associated with these disorders. In addition to research, she is involved with graduate admissions and education.

Sphingolipid Metabolism and Analysis in Metabolic Disease.- Sphingolipids and Cardiovascular Diseases: Lipoprotein Metabolism, Atherosclerosis and Cardiomyopathy.- Heart Sphingolipids in Health and Disease.- Blood Sphingolipids in Homeostasis and Pathobiology.- Adipose Tissue and Ceramide Biosynthesis in the Pathogenesis of Obesity.- Sphingolipids and Hepatic Steatosis.- Glycosphingolipids and Insulin Resistance.- Glyco Sphingolipids and Kidney Disease.- Sphingolipid Synthetic Pathways are Major Regulators of Lipid Homeostasis.