Yusuf Hannun

Dr. Yusuf Hannun serves as Director of the Stony Brook Cancer Center, Vice Dean for Cancer Medicine, and holds the Joel Strum Kenny Professorship in Cancer Research within the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University's School of Medicine. His laboratory has made seminal contributions to the field of bioactive lipids, particularly sphingolipids, with research spanning decades that has fundamentally shaped our understanding of lipid signaling in health and disease.

Dr. Hannun's research focuses on sphingolipid metabolism, with particular emphasis on the structure and mechanisms of key enzymes including neutral ceramidase and neutral sphingomyelinase. His laboratory pioneered work on acid sphingomyelinase and its dual role in Niemann-Pick disease and cancer metastasis. Using both mammalian cell systems and yeast models (S. cerevisiae), his team integrates molecular genetic approaches with mathematical modeling to unravel the complexity of sphingolipid metabolism. A significant portion of his current work investigates how specific sphingolipid pathways function in cancer biology and therapeutics, with projects examining neutral sphingomyelinases as tumor suppressors in the DNA damage response and neutral ceramidase in colon cancer pathogenesis.

Analysis of Dr. Hannun's recent publications reveals a continued dominance in lipid research with increasing interdisciplinary connections. His work bridges basic biochemistry with clinical applications, particularly in cancer therapeutics and fibrosis treatment. The research demonstrates sophisticated integration of traditional biochemical approaches with advanced imaging techniques for visualizing lipid dynamics, mathematical modeling of metabolic pathways, and translational studies exploring therapeutic targeting of lipid enzymes. His publications consistently appear in high-impact journals across biochemistry, cell biology, and translational medicine.

Dr. Hannun leads an active research laboratory with multiple postdoctoral associates, research scientists, and graduate students from both the Biomedical Science (BSB) and Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) graduate programs. His mentorship extends to junior faculty members holding Assistant Professor of Research positions who contribute to the laboratory's scientific output.