 Given hephaestin's established function in facilitating basolateral iron export, this mislocalization may explain the paradoxical intestinal iron accumulation and systemic iron deficiency observed in "sla" mice.Human hephaestin, lacking the putative transmembrane domain, was first recombinantly expressed in 2005 by Drs.Tanya Griffiths, Grant Mauk, and Ross MacGillivray at the University of British Columbia.