John Vaughen, PhD
Assistant Prof. Researcher
Anatomy
School of Medicine

The lipidome remains a vast and poorly explored frontier that often goes awry in diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. We hope to gain genetic control over neural and glial lipidomes. How and why do select lipid species function in brain cells, including in synaptic vesicle fusion, lysosome catabolism, or glial ensheathment? We are excited to develop genetic tools to cell-type specifically track and manipulate the lipidome using the Drosophila brain as a tractable model.

Interests

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• glia
• Lipidomics
• lysosomes
• Neuroscience
• Drosophila
• Genetics

Websites

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• MemBrain Lab (membrainlab.com)

Publications (10)

Top publication keywords:
EpitheliumDrosophila melanogasterMetabolic Networks and PathwaysDrosophila ProteinsNeurogliaNerve Tissue ProteinsNeuronal PlasticitySphingolipidsGlucosylceramidaseCell Transformation, NeoplasticReceptors, ImmunologicMembrane LipidsCarcinogenesisProtein AggregatesCircadian Clocks

• Functional profiling and visualization of the sphingolipid metabolic network in vivo.
  EMBO reports 2025 Tzou FY, Hong CL, Chen KH, Vaughen JP, Lin WS, Hsu CH, Rivas-Serna IM, Hsu KY, Ho SM, Panganiban MR, Hsieh HT, Li YJ, Hsiao Y, Yeh HC, Yu CY, Tang HW, Chou YH, Wu CL, Lo CC, Mazurak VC, Clandinin MT, …
• Peroxisomal import is circadian in glia and regulates sleep and lipid metabolism.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2025 Das A, Rivas-Serna IM, Kumar A, Kalita H, Sherpa L, Vaughen JP, Bai H
• Glia phagocytose neuronal sphingolipids to infiltrate developing synapses.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2025 Theisen EK, Rivas-Serna IM, Lee RJ, Jay TR, Kunduri G, Nguyen TT, Mazurak V, Clandinin MT, Clandinin TR, Vaughen JP
• From seconds to days: Neural plasticity viewed through a lipid lens.
  Current opinion in neurobiology 2023 Vaughen JP, Theisen E, Clandinin TR
• Glial control of sphingolipid levels sculpts diurnal remodeling in a circadian circuit.
  Neuron 2022 Vaughen JP, Theisen E, Rivas-Serna IM, Berger AB, Kalakuntla P, Anreiter I, Mazurak VC, Rodriguez TP, Mast JD, Hartl T, Perlstein EO, Reimer RJ, Clandinin MT, Clandinin TR

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• Cell Extrusion: A Stress-Responsive Force for Good or Evil in Epithelial Homeostasis.
  Developmental cell 2018 Ohsawa S, Vaughen J, Igaki T
• Cell Extrusion: A Stress-Responsive Force for Good or Evil in Epithelial Homeostasis.
  Developmental cell 2018 Ohsawa S, Vaughen J, Igaki T
• Breaking Down Neighbors to Fuel Tumorigenesis.
  Developmental cell 2017 Vaughen J, Igaki T
• Slit-Robo Repulsive Signaling Extrudes Tumorigenic Cells from Epithelia.
  Developmental cell 2016 Vaughen J, Igaki T
• Non-autonomous overgrowth by oncogenic niche cells: Cellular cooperation and competition in tumorigenesis.
  Cancer science 2015 Enomoto M, Vaughen J, Igaki T