Southeastern Regional Lipid Conference (SERLC)
The Southeastern Regional Lipid Conference is excited to welcome the lipid research community back to Asheville, North Carolina.
If you would like email updates, reach out to Alexis Stamatikos to be added to the mailing list.
59th Southeastern Regional Lipid Conference
Nov. 18-20, 2026
Crowne Plaza, Asheville, North Carolina
About SERLC
The Southeastern Regional Lipid Conference is one of the most established academic meetings on lipid research in the United States. Join us in welcoming world-renowned scientists, postdoctoral researchers and students as they share cutting-edge research on lipid biology, lipidomics and the role of lipids in disease.
Keynote Speakers
Joseph Miano, Ph.D.
Joseph Miano is the J. Harold Harrison, MD, Distinguished University Endowed Chair in Vascular Biology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. He received his B.S. in biology and exercise science at SUNY Cortland where his research began in atherosclerosis following a chance meeting with famed lipidologist, Donald Zilversmit. His Ph.D. in experimental pathology was with Michael Stemerman (early pioneer in balloon injury) at New York Medical College. His postdoctoral training was with National Academy of Science member Eric Olson at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. In Houston, Miano spearheaded a number of projects related to the definition of vascular smooth muscle cell-restricted genes or promoters and the role of retinoids in smooth muscle cell phenotypes.
Miano was an associate editor of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology; a consulting editor of Circulation Research; and is currently the editor-in-chief of Vascular Pharmacology. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers, delivered more than 200 invited lectures and has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Hospital Association and philanthropic foundations. His awards include the Martha Lucas Pate Ph.D. Memorial Award, the Manitowoc Heart-A-Rama Research for Life Award and the ATVB Special Recognition Award in Vascular Biology. The Miano Lab focuses on developing genetically engineered mice and was the first lab to apply CRISPR and prime editing to interrogate regulatory control elements in the mouse genome.
In recent years, Miano’s development, characterization and distribution of the Itga8-CreER T2 mouse has enabled a wave of new models — including a novel coronary atherosclerosis model — that were previously unattainable due to lethal visceral myopathies of the gastrointestinal tract. Challenges posed by these confounding gastrointestinal phenotypes prompted a new research direction in modeling and engineering strategies to mitigate rare genetic visceral myopathies.
Please visit Miano's profile for additional information.
Hanjoong Jo, Ph.D.
Hanjoong Jo is the Wallace. H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Chair Professor and associate chair in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology and the Department of Medicine at Emory. He is also the director of the cardiovascular biomechanics T32 graduate training program at Emory and Georgia Tech.
Jo directs the Cardiovascular Mechanobiology, Therapeutics and Nanomedicine Lab in the Coulter BME Department, where he studies how blood flow regulates vascular endothelial function, inducing or preventing atherosclerosis, the leading cause of heart attack and ischemic stroke. His team develops novel mRNA- and microRNA-based therapeutics, as well as gene and drug delivery using nanoparticles, to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease. Jo has trained over 35 Ph.D.s, 36 postdoctoral fellows and 70 undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to become leaders in universities, industries and government.
He is an elected fellow of the American Association of Advancement Science, BME Society, American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineers, American Heart Association and American Physiological Society. He received a Marshall Distinguished Investigator Award from the British Society of Cardiovascular Research and the Shu and KC Chien Distinguished Lectureship. He has served as an editorial board member and associate editor of many high-impact journals. Jo served as the chair of the 2012 Annual BME Society Meeting, the 2023 Gordon Research Conference in Biomechanics of Vascular Biology and Disease, and the International Symposium in Biomechanics in Cardiovascular Diseases three times. Jo has served as the founding president of the Korean-American Biomedical Engineering Society and as the founding co-organizer of the US-Korea BME Workshop, now an annual feature of the BME's meeting. He also provided significant leadership for KSEA, including his service as vice president and chair of the Convergence Symposium at the US-Korea Conference three times. Jo received the 2025 KSEA Scientist of the Year Award.
Accommodations
Crowne Plaza Hotel
1 Resort Drive
Asheville, NC 28806
This year the group rate for rooms will be $126. Rooms will be available at this price until midnight on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026. Any reservation requests made after the reservation due date of Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, will be accepted on a space-available basis. Rooms can be reserved using the link below using the group name SERLC 2026.
If you prefer to call, reach out to 1-844-330-0296 and mention the group name SERLC 2026.
Reservations: 1-844-330-0296
General: 828-254-3211
Asheville Crowne Plaza Hotel
2026 Sponsors
Please contact Alexis Stamatikos for 2026 sponsorship opportunities.
Abstract Submissions
Abstract submission details will be added soon.
Contact
Alexis “Stocko” Stamatikos, Ph.D./R.D., FAHA
Tenured Ethel Austin Martin Endowed Professor
School of Health and Human Sciences
South Dakota State University
Email Stamatikos
Christopher Green, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor – Department of Cellular, Molecular and Genetic Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University
Email Green
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025
4-5:30 p.m. Arrival and Registration
5:30-6:30 p.m. Welcome Reception (Pisgah and Pilot)
6:30-7:30 p.m. Dinner (Pisgah and Pilot)
7:45-8 p.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks (Mitchell and Roan)
Jason Newton, Virginia Commonwealth University
8-9 p.m. Keynote Presentation
Sarah Spiegel, Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University
Title: My journey with Sphingosine-1-Phosphate: From insipid lipid to a key lipid mediator
9-11 p.m. Social Time and Preliminary Poster Viewing (Pisgah and Pilot)
Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025
8-9 a.m. Breakfast (Pisgah and Pilot)
9-10:15 a.m. Oral Session I (Mitchell and Roan): Lipids in Cancer and Inflammation
Session Chairs: Chris Green and Aaron Birchfield, Virginia Commonwealth University
9 a.m. SPTLC3 and Noncanonical Sphingolipids in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Emerging Drivers of Tumor Progression and Metabolic Dysregulation
Maryam Jamil, Ph.D., Department of Cellular, Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:15 a.m. Intracellular Complement Signaling Plays a Critical Role in S1P/S1PR1-mediated Inflammasome Activation and Tumor Metastasis
Salih Gencer, Ph.D. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina
9:30 a.m. Adipocyte Sphingosine Kinase 2 Regulates Susceptibility to Obesity and MASH-driven Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Yadu Vijayan, Ph.D., Department of Cellular, Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:45 a.m. Exploring Macrophage Sphingosine Kinase 2 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Sumit Saha, Department of Cellular, Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
10 a.m. Glycerol Channel Aquaporin-3 is Significantly Upregulated at the Corneas’ Wound Edge in Mice
Sam Melnyk, Department of Physiology, Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
10:15 a.m. Role of Beta-Glucosylceramidase in the Regulation of Multidrug Resistance Transporters and Chemoresistance
Karyme Garcia Lopez, School of Life Sciences and Sustainability, Virginia Commonwealth University
10:30 a.m. Break
10:30-11:30 a.m. Oral Session II (Mitchell and Roan): Lipids in Neurological Disorders
Session Chairs: Cynthia Weigel, Virginia Commonwealth University and Ally Brawner, Clemson University
10:30 a.m. Ceramide-rich Extracellular Vesicles as Biomarkers and Mediators of Neuronal Dysfunction After Traumatic Brain Injury
Zainuddin Quadri, Ph.D., Department of Physiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington
10:45 a.m. Dysregulated Fatty Acyl Chain Elongation May Drive Altered Sphingolipid Hydroxylation in Niemann-Pick Type C Disease
Shashank Nadimpalli, School of Life Sciences and Sustainability, Virginia Commonwealth University
11 a.m. Sphingosine-1-phosphate Receptor 1 Regulates Competition-dependent Astrocyte Morphogenesis in the Murine Cortex
Jean Patrick Gonzales, Department of Cellular, Molecular, and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
11:15 a.m. Beyond Alpha-synuclein: Membrane Remodeling and Disrupted Signaling in GBA-Associated Parkinson’s Disease
Lauren Kupec, School of Life Sciences and Sustainability, Virginia Commonwealth University
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Keynote Presentation
Fred Maxfield, Ph.D., Weill Cornell Medicine
Title: How macrophages digest objects too large to phagocytose: Relevance to lipoproteins and atherosclerosis
12:30-1:30 p.m. Lunch (Pisgah and Pilot)
1:30-4 p.m. Free time
4-6 p.m. Poster Session (Pisgah and Pilot) and Cocktail Hour
Poster session chairs: Usha Mahawar and Jean Patrick Gonzales, Virginia Commonwealth University
6-6:15 p.m. Awards ceremony (Mitchell and Roan)
6:15-6:30 p.m. Presentation of the Lina Obeid Young Scientist Award
6:30-7 p.m. Lina Obeid Young Scientist Award Lecture
7-8 p.m. SERLC Banquet – Pisgah and Pilot; Mitchell and Roan
8-11 p.m. Live Bluegrass Entertainment Featuring the Asheville Mountain Boys and Square Dancing
Pisgah and Pilot; Mitchell and Roan
Friday, Nov. 7, 2025
8-9 a.m. Breakfast (Pisgah and Pilot)
9-10 a.m. Oral Session III (Mitchell and Roan): Lipidomics and Advances in Lipid Technology and Therapeutics
Session chairs: Jonathan Ma, Weill Cornell Medicine and Anna Kovilakath, Virginia Commonwealth University
9 a.m. Selective Degradation of SPT-bound ORMDLs is a Longer-term Regulatory Mechanism to Regulate SPT and Sphingolipid Levels
Usha Mahawar, Ph.D., Department of Cellular, Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:15 a.m. PFAS Recognition by Lipid Transport Proteins: Structural and Biochemical Insights from FABP4 and SCP2
Aaron Birchfield, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University
9:30 a.m. Increasing apoAI-mediated Cholesterol Efflux in Cultured Proinflammatory Endothelial Cells via Cell-specific Nanotherapy
Ally Brawner, Department of Food, Nutrition and Packaging Sciences; Clemson University
9:45 a.m. Detection of Ferritinophagic Flux Using HaloTag Technology
Sachin Kumar Kempelingaiah, Department of Cellular, Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
10 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Break — please make sure you are checked out of the hotel at this time.
10:45-11:45 a.m. Oral Session IV (Mitchell and Roan): Lipids in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease
Session chairs: Zain Quadri, University of Kentucky, Lexington and Maryam Jamil, Virginia Commonwealth University
10:45 a.m. Lipid Signaling Activates the Inflammatory Pathways in Macrophages, Leading to Beta Cell Death and Type 1 Diabetes Development
Thi Yen Ly Huynh, Ph.D., Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham
11 a.m. Ceramide Synthase 2 and 5 Have Opposing Roles in a Mouse Model of Diastolic Dysfunction
Anna Kovilakath, Ph.D., Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Pauley Heart Center, Virginia Commonwealth University
11:15 a.m. Cholesterol Transport During Digestive Exophagy and its Roles in Foam Cell Formation
Johnathan Ma, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine
11:30 a.m. The Double Life of Spinster Homolog 2: Sending S1P Out, Bringing Glucose in
Cynthia Weigel, Ph.D., Department of Cellular, Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
Noon-12:30 p.m. Closing Remarks and SERLC Business Meeting to Plan for 2026 Conference
Noon-1:30 p.m. Lunch (Pisgah and Pilot)
1:30 p.m. 58th SERLC Meeting Adjourned
2026 Registration Now Open
Registrations for SERLC 2026 can be complete through the form below.
Meeting costs include all food, nonalcoholic beverages and entertainment — including local bluegrass band My New Favorites.