People living with diabetes face a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease — but the precise biological mechanisms driving this link are not yet fully understood. This project investigates how diabetes-associated changes in the lipidome (the full profile of lipids within cells and the body) disrupt immune cell metabolism and function, contributing to chronic inflammation, vascular dysfunction and poor cardiac outcomes.
By combining lipidomic analyses with immune and metabolic pathway interrogation, our research aims to define the mechanistic connections between lipid handling, innate immune activation and cardiometabolic disease progression. A central focus is on how lipid remodelling alters immunometabolic function — fuelling the chronic, low-grade inflammation that accelerates cardiovascular disease in the setting of diabetes.
Positioned at the intersection of lipid biology, immunometabolism and cardiovascular research, this project offers students and postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to build a distinctive and highly translatable skill set in one of the field's most rapidly evolving areas.