Rui Lab

The Rui laboratory studies cell signaling, metabolism, and metabolic diseases, focusing on obesity, diabetes, and liver diseases. We analyze insulin and leptin signaling in adipocytes, hepatocytes, and hypothalamic neurons to elucidate the molecular basis of their metabolic action and the mechanism of leptin and insulin resistance in the context of overnutrition and obesity. We examine the genomic responses to metabolic signals and transcriptional regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism. We generate and metabolically phenotype cell type-specific knockout mouse models of obesity, diabetes, and liver diseases, and identify the underlying physiological mechanisms. We investigate hypothalamic neural circuits and their control of appetite, energy expenditure, body weight, and glucose/lipid metabolism, using fluorescent immunohistological and electrophysiological techniques. We study the hepatic lipogenic program and fatty acid β oxidation and their contributions to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in the setting of inflammation and obesity. We study liver injury, regeneration, fibrosis, and cirrhosis, using genetic models as well as partial bile duct ligation and hepatectomy models. We study the interplay between the brain, liver, and adipose tissue in order to comprehensively understand obesity, diabetes, and liver diseases both at molecular and cellular levels and in animals.