UTHealth Expert List
Topic: Alzheimer's
Yu (Aaron) An,
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
McGovern Medical School
Department of Anesthesiology
The main theme for Dr. Yu (Aaron) An’s laboratory is “adipose mitochondria impact metabolic homeostasis”. In the United States, more than 42% of adults are living with obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the rate continues to rise. One of the root causes of heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer, obesity exacts a staggering toll on our communities – more than $147 billion in medical costs and an estimated 300,000 lives per year. Having obesity also significantly increases the chance of severe illness and hospitalization from COVID-19.
Newly founded in September of 2021, the An Laboratory is aiming to carry out paradigm-shifting research in the fields of obesity, diabetes, and metabolism by defining the fundamental mechanism of obesity and bringing treatments fighting obesity and its related metabolic diseases. One of the major lab research programs is to increase our understanding of intercellular and interorgan communication during mitochondrial distress in fat cells (adipocytes), through using molecular and biochemical tools, primarily cultured cells, genetically engineered mouse models, and human adipose tissue samples.
In past few years, we have established several unique mouse models mimicking mitochondrial stress in adipocytes and thereby promoting obesity. Dr. An has been first-authored and co-authored more than 40 papers (see full list in the PubMed link below) in prestigious journals, including Nature Metabolism, J Hepatology, eLife, Diabetes, Science, Cell Metabolism, etc. A prospective graduate student is expected to utilize established mouse models to perform four levels of studies: to explore intracellular regulation and defensive mechanisms against mitochondrial dysfunction, to identify intercellular crosstalk between adipocytes and adipose stromal cells, to discover inter-tissue communication between white and brown adipose tissue, and finally, to investigate the interorgan crosstalk between adipose tissue and liver and other metabolic organs.
Junjie Chen,
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology
My laboratory studies many aspects of DNA damage responsive and DNA repair pathways, which include Radiation-induced DNA damage response (DDR), BRCA1/2 and homologous recombination repair, Replication stress pathway and lesion bypass, Fanconi anemia pathway and interstrand crosslink repair, Spartan/C1orf124/DVC1 and DNA-protein crosslink repair, and more recently the roles of DNA damage response in innate immunity. We also conduct mass spectrometry-based proteomics studies of various signaling pathways involved in tumorigenesis, recently focusing on Hippo/YAP and LBK1-AMPK pathways. In addition, we perform whole genome CRISPR/Cas9 screens to investigate gene-gene and drug-gene interactions involved in cancer development and cancer therapy.
Rotation students are welcome to participate in any of these studies.
Paul Schulz, M.D.
- Holder, Rick McCord Professorship in Neurology, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth
- Director, Dementia and Memory Disorders, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth
- Director, Dementia Program, Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center
Paul Schulz, M.D., specializes in diagnosing and treating neuropsychiatric disorders, such as dementia, that may produce cognitive, behavioral or mood symptoms. His research interests include the early diagnosis and prevention of dementia, the treatment of Alzheimer’s, the causes and treatment of frontotemporal dementia, and the neurologic complications of post-traumatic stress disorder. He is affiliated with the Mischer Neuroscience Institute and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.
Previous Interview: http://abcn.ws/JF0Dsz
Claudio Soto, PhD
- Professor of Neurology, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth
- Director, The George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Center for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Brain Disorders, McGovern Medical School at UTHealth
Claudio Soto, Ph.D., specializes in the molecular basis of neurodegenerative diseases associated to the misfolding and brain accumulation of proteins, particularly focusing on Alzheimer’s and prion-related disorders.