Members’ Labs

Warren Lee, MD, PhD

Professor
Department of Medicine (Cross-appointed to Biochemistry; and to Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology)
University of Toronto

Primary Research:

Our lab works at the interface between vascular biology and innate immunity. We have particular expertise in the study of endothelial transcytosis of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (one of the first steps in atherosclerosis) and other ligands (albumin, HDL) and in the development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for lung endothelial leakage (i.e. pathogen-induced lung injury) in inflammation.

Laboratory web site URL:

warrenleelab.com

Recent Presentations:

(2025). Cumulative LDL-cholesterol burden and cardiovascular risk. 14th International
Congress on Lipids and Atherosclerosis (iCoLA), Seoul, South Korea.

(2024). LDL transcytosis across the arterial endothelium - atherosclerosis by a thousand cuts? (Physician-
Scientist Lectureship). Canadian Lipid and Vascular Summit, Canada

(2024). Identification of novel regulators of LDL transcytosis using proteomics. Gordon Research
Conference on Lipoprotein Metabolism, Waterville, New Hampshire, United States of America

Laboratory Motto:

Doing good science means being part-artist and part-robot.

Members of the Laboratory

Recent Publications

Jang E, Ghaffari S, Henry A, Wen G, Ho TWW, Cheng WH, Lyu Y, Wei K, Wang C, Romanoski CE, Wang Y, Cybulsky MI, Lee WL. Lipid raft proteomics identify endothelial myosin-9 (MYH9) as a regulator of low-density lipoprotein transcytosis and atherosclerosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Oct 28;122(43):e2509315122.
Winnie Ho TW, Wang C, Lee WL. LDL transcytosis passes through the trans-Golgi network and requires Rab10. J Lipid Res. 2025 Oct;66(10):100893.
Jang E, Ho TWW, Brumell JH, Lefebvre F, Wang C, Lee WL. IL-1β Induces LDL Transcytosis by a Novel Pathway Involving LDLR and Rab27a. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2024 Sep;44(9):2053-2068
Sanwal R, Mintsopoulos V, Ditmans M, Lang A, Latreille E, Ghaffari S, Khosraviani N, Karshafian R, Leong-Poi H, Hwang DM, Brochard L, Goffi A, Slutsky AS, Lee WL. Ultrasound-guided transfection of claudin-5 improves lung endothelial barrier function in lung injury without impairing innate immunity. American Journal of Physiology - Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology 2023; Jun 13. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00107.2023
Guo X*, Khosraviani N*, Raju S, Singh J, Farahani NZ, Abramian M, Torres VJ, Howe KL, Fish JE, Kapus A, Lee WL. Endothelial ACKR1 is induced by neutrophil contact and down-regulated by secretion in extracellular vesicles. Frontiers in Immunology; 14 - 2023 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1181016