Vanderbilt University and the Department of Pharmacology have international prominence in the area of bioactive lipid research. Our faculty are engaged in cutting edge research on the cyclooxygenase enzymes (targets of aspirin-related drugs) and their prostaglandin products; the isoprostanes (harbingers of oxidative stress); phospholipid transformations and their manipulation by phospholipase enzymes; and fatty acid bioactivation by lipoxygenase and cytochrome P450 enzymes with roles in homeostasis and inflammatory disease.