Cell, one of the most renowned magazines in life sciences, published the research findings of Professor Song Baoliang’s research team on cholesterol on April, 9, 2015. The paper Cholesterol Transport through Lysosome-peroxisome Membrane Contacts, Song Baoliang as the corresponding author, focuses on the explanation and improvement of human genetic diseases, which extends a new direction in the study of cholesterol transport in cells.

Their findings discover the new way of cholesterol transport and the new functions of peroxisome, which point out that the abnormal cholesterol transport was one of the reasons causing peroxisome disorder, providing a brand-new approach to treat this kind of diseases.

Cholesterol is a kind of lipid molecules, rich in cells. It is uneven and it moves in dynamic transports, thus of vital significance to maintain normal activities of cells. Professor Song Baoliang’s team identified more than 300 genes related with cholesterol transport and ultimately discovered that the accumulation of cholesterol is one reason to peroxisome disorder.

The lack of peroxisome function will give rise to peroxisome disorder, but there is no effective way to cure it. Therefore, Professor Song’s research result exerts a great impact on basic and clinical application.

Song Baoliang, the dean of College of Life Science, is an outstanding scholar who has engaged himself in the study on the cholesterol metabolism. He has published 4 papars on Nature Medicine and Cell Metabolism as corresponding author.

（Rewritten by Shiying Xu, edited by Sijia Hu）