 They named the newfound protein after Hephaestus, the Greek god of metal working.Much of what is known about hephaestin comes from studying heritable mutants of murine iron metabolism.The protein was discovered and identified through the study of mice with sex-linked anemia, or sla mice, in which there is normal mucosal uptake of dietary iron but impaired transport of iron from the intestinal enterocytes into the circulation.