Emily Stevenson is the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics' Highlighted Trainee Author for the September 2022 issue. She is a predoctoral trainee pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in toxicology through the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her mentor is Dr. Andrew Gow. The JPET article that earned her selection as a Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “Intratracheal Administration of Acat-1 Inhibitor K-604 Reduces Pulmonary Inflammation Following Bleomycin-induced Lung Injury” and is available at  https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.122.001284.

Emily has a long-standing interest in injury and repair mechanisms and how the body’s response to the initial insult can alter the outcome. Emily has worked with several lung injury models including ozone inhalation, intratracheal bleomycin, and the administration of mustards. The current work arises from her novel observations that lipid metabolism may be a clear regulator of the inflammatory response to lung injury, especially within macrophages. This work fits into the expanding field of immunometabolism; however, her work appears to have highlighted novel cell signaling responses when lipid metabolism is altered.

Emily hopes that her current work will help to add to the body of literature recognizing and understanding the role of lipid homeostasis in various lung pathologies. In additional projects, she has worked on developing a new mRNA delivery mechanism for the lung, the response of the human immune system to ozone exposure, and new strategies to identify macrophage immunophenotypes. She is interested in continuing to research in the area of pharmacology and toxicology as a postdoctoral fellow when she graduates.

When not in the lab, Emily enjoys baking, running, and competing in triathlons. She also enjoys spending time with her pets.