An overview of Prof. Viswanathan Natarajan's journey in academia as a mentor, teacher, and lipid scientist for nearly 50 years is presented. As a graduate student, Dr. Natarajan interrogated biosynthesis and catabolism of phospholipids in the developing brain; however, in the last five decades, he has been investigating the role of sphingolipids and sphingolipid-metabolizing enzymes in pulmonary endothelial cells, epithelial cells, and fibroblasts under normal conditions and during various lung pathologies such as sepsis, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and lung cancer. His recent work on sphingosine-1-phosphate and lysophosphatidic acid metabolism in pre-clinical animal models has identified small molecule inhibitors in the signaling pathways that could have therapeutic potential in ameliorating pulmonary fibrosis, hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension, lung cancer, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Future research in bioactive lipids in combination with OMICS should unravel the importance of various lipid mediators as modulators of cell function under normal and pathological conditions.

中文翻译：

---

我作为脂质生物化学家的学术生涯。


概述了 Viswanathan Natarajan 教授近 50 年来作为导师、教师和脂质科学家的学术生涯。作为一名研究生，Natarajan 博士研究了发育中的大脑中磷脂的生物合成和分解代谢。然而，在过去的五年中，他一直在研究鞘脂和鞘脂代谢酶在正常条件下以及各种肺部病理（如脓毒症、哮喘、肺动脉高压、特发性肺病）中肺内皮细胞、上皮细胞和成纤维细胞中的作用。纤维化、支气管肺发育不良和肺癌。他最近对临床前动物模型中的 1-磷酸鞘氨醇和溶血磷脂酸代谢进行了研究，发现了信号通路中的小分子抑制剂，这些抑制剂可能具有改善肺纤维化、缺氧引起的肺动脉高压、肺癌和支气管肺发育不良的治疗潜力。未来对生物活性脂质与组学相结合的研究应该揭示各种脂质介质作为正常和病理条件下细胞功能调节剂的重要性。