Our Research

Our primary research interest is to investigate how neurons and monocyte-derived pathological microglia interact to mediate neural physiology and behavior in various neurological conditions, towards the development of immune-targeted therapies of the disease condition. The diseases that we study include maternal immune activation, neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI), infection-sensitized HI, and neonatal stroke. To test this idea, we have developed a two-hit model of neurodevelopmental defects by subjecting the offspring of murine maternal immune activation (MIA) under a moderate Rice-Vannucci HI insult to produce autistic-like behaviors and synaptic defects.

Our second research interest is to explore the disease model of neuropil clumps caused by phosphorylated tau protein, and how monocytes are involved in the regulation of myelin damage and to develop the new therapeutic methods in neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's disease and tauopathy).