Departmental Duties

In addition to my teaching and research responsibilities, I am the Director and Advisor of the MS programs in Biochemistry. Please call or email me if you have any questions about program admission requirements, nature of our programs or financial aid. A general description of these MS programs can be found in another part of this website.

Research Interests

For the last 25 years, my main interest has been in fatty acid metabolism, especially eicosanoid metabolism. Eicosanoids are derivatives of 20 carbon fatty acids with a wide variety of hormone-like properties and are important regulatory molecules in inflammatory, immunological and hemostatic processes. Some of these eicosanoids (e.g. the prostanoids and thromboxanes) are produced via the cyclooxygenase pathway whereas other eicosanoids (e.g. leukotrienes, HETEs) are generated via several lipoxygenase pathways.

The two major foci of our studies have been (1) examining the effects of unusual naturally occurring fatty acids on the biosynthesis of several eicosanoids formed by endothelial cells, neutrophils, platelets and basophilic leukomia cells and (2) the identification of non-receptor proteins that specifically interact with certain eicosanoids such as prostacyclin and HETE in order to further delineate the biological roles of these eicosanoids.

Selected Publications:

1. A.P. Torres and J.Y. Vanderhoek, Conjugated linoleic acid exhibits stimulatory and inhibitory effects on prostanoid production in humna endothelial cells and platelets. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1640 69-76 (2003)
2. L.T. Kang, T.M. Phillips and J.Y. Vanderhoek. Novel membrane target proteins for lipoxygenase-derived mono(S)hydroxy fatty acids. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1438, 388-398 (1999)
3. A. Truitt, G. McNeill and J. Y. Vanderhoek. Antiplatelet effects of conjugated linoleic acid isomers. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1438, 239-247 (1999).