Sphingo

This parody (written by Greg Crowther) is sung to the tune of "Bingo" (traditional).

There was a man who had some fat,
And Sphingo was its name-o.
S-P-H-I-N-G-O, S-P-H-I-N-G-O, S-P-H-I-N-G-O,
And Sphingo was its name-o.

Biologists from near and far
Thought his research was lame-o.
L-A-M-E-O, L-A-M-E-O, L-A-M-E-O,
Thought his research was lame-o.

But one day, to his great delight,
His lipids brought him fame-o.
F-A-M-E-O, F-A-M-E-O, F-A-M-E-O,
His lipids brought him fame-o.

"My bases cure all cancer cases!"
Thus did he exclaim-o.
E-X-C-L-A-I-M-O, E-X-C-L-A-I-M-O, E-X-C-L-A-I-M-O,
Thus did he exclaim-o.

Experiments in other labs
Soon verified his claim-o.
C-L-A-I-M-O, C-L-A-I-M-O, C-L-A-I-M-O,
Soon verified his claim-o.

So now the grants he gets are huge
And put the rest to shame-o.
S-H-A-M-E-O, S-H-A-M-E-O, S-H-A-M-E-O,
And put the rest to shame-o.

The sphingolipid research world
Will never be the same-o.
S-A-M-E-O, S-A-M-E-O, S-A-M-E-O,
Will never be the same-o.

Sphingolipids, the topic of my undergraduate research, have long been ignored by most biologists. This song envisions a "revenge of the sphingolipidologist" in which a long-suffering scientist discovers that the long-chain bases he studies really are important after all. As it turns out, recent research has to some extent confirmed the prophecy of the song: mice that eat a sphingolipid-enriched diet are less likely to develop certain types of cancer than control mice.