Postdoctoral Scholars

Gut-brain interaction in neurodevelopmental disorder.

RNA editing, splicing, and modifications

Neuroethology, Bioacoustics, Sensory Physiology

Understanding the role of autophagy/mitophagy in neurodegenerative diseases and aging

The complex interplay of metabolic disease and environmental factors.

Interaction of gut immune system and neurodegenerative diseases

Visual feature detection and visuomotor integration

Cellular mechanisms of neuromuscular disease

Host-microbiome interaction using multi-omics systems biology approach.

Neurobiology of fly vision

Computational approaches to understand cell signaling

Bioinformatics, RNA biology, Sequencing technology

Gut microbiota, animal-bacteria symbiosis

My research focuses on characterizing cardiac fibrosis in Duchenne muscular dystrophy-associated cardiomyopathy. Fibrosis, or the excess deposition of extracellular matrix, prevents efficient cardiac contraction, diminishes regenerative capacity, and is a major barrier to therapy. The central hypothesis I am testing is that the structural, mechanical, and proteomic profiles of the cardiac ECM in the context of muscular dystrophy represent a distinct pathological microenvironment that is resistant to remodeling and negatively impacts cardiac cell function.

Experimental therapeutics for traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disease.

Almost everyone can relate to sleep disturbances at some point in their life, however women disproportionately report insomnia related disturbances. My overall research goals are to determine the biological mechanism of how stress regulates sleep and cognitive behavior in females. My career mission statement is to increase minority representation in biomedical science by educating undergraduate students in biological sciences while motivating and preparing them to be leaders in research, medicine, and education.

Cultured Meat, Tissue Engineering, and Polymer Chemistry

Interaction of food components with microbes in the gut and this interaction's effect on the brain function and neurodegenerative disease.

Anti-aging drug discovery

Screening of drugs which contributes mitochondria quality control for prolonging the lifespan, revealing the effect of tissue-specific gene expression on mitochondria function and stem cell behavior during aging, studying about NAD related mechanisms on mitophagy and stem cell homeostasis for prolonging the lifespan.

My ultimate goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms facilitating fat mobilization in the adipocytes that help promote positive metabolic outcomes at the organismal level.

Skeletal Muscle Biology

It is very alarming the high incidence of metabolic diseases (e.g. Metabolic syndrome, Diabetes mellitus,) have serious consequences on brain functions. I have a great interest in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the development of neurological disorders, in particular how lifestyle (diet, exercise) impact on the cognitive function after traumatic brain injury.

Mitophagy and actin dynamics in healthspan and lifespan determination

To understand the cellular and molecular dynamics underlying neurodegenerative disorders associated with drug discovery.

My research interest is in understanding the role of the gut microbiota in neural circuit development and function. My work in Dr. Hsiao's lab focuses on interrogating the impact of the maternal gut microbiota on embryonic brain axonogenesis and adult offspring somatosensory behaviors. In addition, we are probing the influence of maternal antidepressant use on maternal gut microbiota composition and fetal brain development.

Studying RNA processing through computational methods

Hypothalamic estrogen signaling on thermoregulation