The journal Antioxidants (ISSN: 2076-3921) is delighted to present the winner of the 2025 Young Investigator Award—Dr. Mike Lange.

Dr. Mike Lange is a lipid biochemist studying mechanisms of lipid quality control in cells. His research combines advanced lipid analytics with molecular and cell biology to uncover antioxidant mechanisms that protect organelles from oxidative lipid damage.

1. Could you please briefly introduce yourself, including your current affiliation and main research areas?

I am currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, where my research focuses on how chemical modifications of biomolecules regulate cellular metabolism. Throughout my training, I have been particularly interested in how spontaneous chemical reactions shape biological systems, first through studying protective protein modifications and later expanding into lipid biology. During my doctoral work at the University of Leipzig with Maria Fedorova, I investigated how metabolic changes alter lipid composition and influence cellular vulnerability to damage. Building on this, my postdoctoral research with James Olzmann at the University of California, Berkeley, explored how cells maintain the integrity of their lipids and how failures in these processes contribute to disease. More broadly, my work aims to uncover fundamental mechanisms of cellular homeostasis and to develop new analytical approaches to study biomolecule regulation with high precision.

2. What inspired you to pursue research in the field of lipidomics?

Lipids are major and highly diverse components of cells yet how they are damaged and regulated has long remained difficult to study due to technical limitations. For a long time, lipid peroxidation was assessed indirectly or with proxy measurements, leaving open fundamental questions about which lipids are affected, under what conditions, and with what consequences. The emergence of ferroptosis highlighted the central role of lipid damage in cell fate and provided a powerful framework to study these processes in a more systematic way. What inspired me most was the opportunity to combine this conceptual advance with emerging LC-MS-based approaches to directly map lipid damage across different lipid classes and cellular compartments. This shift from indirect observations to molecular-level understanding opens a largely unexplored area of biology with strong potential for both fundamental discovery and therapeutic innovation.

3. How does it feel to be recognized with the Antioxidants Young Investigator Award?

It feels really great to be recognized for the work I’m doing. A lot of science happens within small circles, so it’s easy to lose sight of how it’s perceived more broadly. Receiving an award like this gives me confidence that the work resonates beyond my immediate field and is actually being seen. It’s also very motivating, and a reminder of the many people who contributed along the way, from mentors to collaborators and trainees.

4. Can you tell us about the research that led to this recognition and its potential impact?

My research builds on the growing interest in lipid biology sparked by the discovery of ferroptosis, which highlighted how damaging lipid peroxidation can drive cell death. However, most work in this area has focused on lipids in the plasma membrane and the antioxidant systems that protect them. During my postdoctoral work, I became interested in a more fundamental question: are lipids in other cellular compartments also vulnerable to damage, and do cells have dedicated systems to protect them?

Because methods to study lipid damage at the level of specific organelles are still very limited, I had to develop and adapt new approaches to tackle this problem. I focused on lipid droplets, which are central hubs of cellular lipid metabolism and uniquely suited for this type of analysis. Using cell-based models and advanced lipidomics, I discovered that lipids stored in lipid droplets are indeed subject to damaging peroxidation. Importantly, I identified the first antioxidant system that directly protects these lipids and showed that this protection is essential for cell survival, as cells die when lipid droplet damage accumulates (Lange et al., Nature Cell Biology, 2025).

These findings change how we think about lipid droplets, from passive storage sites to active regulators of cell fate, and represent the first example of an organelle-specific lipid protection system. Building on this, we have proposed the concept of lipid quality control, encompassing all mechanisms that prevent or repair lipid damage (Li*, Lange* et al., Annual Reviews of Biochemistry, 2024. * = co-first author). We hypothesize that similar systems exist across cellular organelles, opening up an entirely new area of biology with strong potential for both fundamental discovery and therapeutic development.

5. What advice would you give to early career researchers or young scientists who are just starting their academic journey?

My main advice would be to enjoy the journey, be bold, and surround yourself with the right people. Science can be challenging, and experiments often fail more than they succeed, so it is important to find joy in the process itself. Stay curious, think creatively about problems, and do not be afraid to challenge assumptions or explore new ideas, even if they feel risky. That is often where the most meaningful discoveries come from.

Equally important is finding good mentors. None of my work would have been possible without the guidance and support of great mentors who gave me freedom, challenged my thinking, and helped me stay on track when needed. The right mentorship can make all the difference, and it is worth taking the time to find people who truly support your growth.

Finally, build a strong community. Science can sometimes feel isolating, but it does not have to be. Connect with colleagues, share ideas, attend conferences, and learn from others who are on a similar path. Having a supportive network not only makes the journey more enjoyable but also helps you grow as a scientist.

6. In your view, what are the most promising directions in your research that you are excited about?

One of the most exciting directions in my research is moving beyond lipid quantity toward understanding lipid quality, particularly in the context of disease. So far, lipid droplet biology has largely focused on how lipid levels are regulated, leading to important advances in metabolic disease and cancer research. In contrast, lipid quality control is a very new concept, and its roles in disease are still largely unexplored. Defining how failures in these protective systems contribute to pathology, and developing ways to modulate them for therapeutic benefit, is something I find particularly exciting.

More broadly, I believe the study of organelle-specific lipid quality control represents a largely untapped area with enormous potential. We currently do not know whether different organelles have dedicated systems to protect their lipids, or what the consequences are when these systems fail. A major reason for this is the lack of technologies to monitor and manipulate lipid damage with spatial resolution inside cells. Developing these tools, and combining them with advanced lipidomics and modern cell biology, will open the door to studying these processes in a systematic way and uncovering entirely new mechanisms of cellular homeostasis and disease.

7. Looking ahead, what are your main goals or projects for the coming years?

Looking ahead, my main goal is to expand our understanding of lipid droplet quality control by identifying additional protective factors and defining their roles in disease. Having established the first lipid droplet quality control system, I am particularly interested in understanding in which contexts its impairment contributes to pathology, and whether targeting lipid droplet quality can be leveraged as a strategy to selectively induce cancer cell death.

In parallel, I am very excited about developing new approaches to monitor and modulate lipid damage with spatial resolution inside cells. Advancing these tools has the potential to transform not only the study of lipid quality control but lipid biology more broadly, shifting the field from a largely observational discipline to one where we can directly link lipid composition and modification to cellular phenotypes and function.