Positions

Assistant Professor

Pediatrics
Baylor College of Medicine

Education

PhD from Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, SIBS, CAS

01/2011 - Shanghai, China

BS from Nanjing Agriculture University

06/2004 - Nanjing, China

Professional Statement

My research direction is to explore brain estrogenic actions in the regulation of energy and glucose balance under different physiological conditions, including sex differences in response to nutritional challenges, female body weight and feeding controls in menopause, pregnancy and lactation. One of the ongoing project is to determine the central mechanism by which estrogen regulates lactational physiology, including prolactin production/secretion, lactational hyperphagia, and mammary gland development/function.
Another direction of my research is to determine the roles of retinoic acid receptors in the development and functions of the hypothalamus on the regulation of energy and glucose balance.

Websites

Funding

Hypothalamic TAp63 and body weight control - #16POST27260254

$106,372.00 (01/01/2016 - 12/31/2017)

Grant funding from AHA

A TAp63 transcriptional axis contributes to the sexual dimorphism in POMC neuron functions and energy homeostasis - #K01 DK119471

$325,782.00 (07/01/2019 - 07/01/2022)

Grant funding from National Institutes of Health

Estrogen-inducible PNNs enhance excitatory synaptic strength onto GABA neurons in the MePD to prevent obesity and metabolic dysregulation. - #R01 DK136627

$2,237,984.00 (08/01/2023 - 04/30/2024)

Grant funding from National Institutes of Health

To test whether estrogen-inducible PNNs enhance excitatory synaptic strength onto GABA neurons in the MePD to prevent obesity and metabolic dysregulation.

Hypothalamic Regulation on Lactational Hyperphagia - #USDA/CRIS 58-3092-0-001

$550,071.00 (10/01/2022 - 09/30/2024)

Grant funding from USDA

To test a hypothesis that attenuated E2 signaling in the ERαvlVMH-originated neurocircuitry contributes to the lactational hyperprolactinemia and hyperphagia.