Our Research

Long-Distance Endosome & EV Signaling

Neurons can extend axons over long distances — sometimes exceeding a meter in length. How do survival signals generated at the axon terminal travel back to the cell body to influence gene expression?

Our lab studies signaling endosomes, membrane-bound compartments that carry activated receptors retrogradely along axons, and extracellular vesicles (EVs) that serve as intercellular messengers between neurons and glia.

Adaptive Metabolism & Weight-Loss Drug Mechanisms

Our newest direction asks how the brain decides when to eat and how much energy to burn, and how the new generation of weight-loss drugs changes those decisions.

In collaboration with Ali Güler's lab, we investigate how the brain regulates feeding and energy balance. We study neurotrophic factor signaling in hypothalamic circuits, p75NTR's role in feeding behavior, and how caloric restriction reshapes sympathetic outflow to adipose tissue.

We also investigate how neurons undergo metabolic reprogramming after development is complete, adapting their energy usage for the demands of adult function.

Technology Development

Answering fundamental questions often requires building new tools. Our lab builds the ones that let us ask questions existing methods cannot answer.

We pioneered magnetogenetics, a technique that uses magnetic fields to activate TRPV4 channels and remotely control neuronal activity without implants or tethered hardware.

We also developed mass cytometry (CyTOF) approaches for single-cell protein profiling in the brain, enabling high-dimensional characterization of dozens of proteins in single neural and glial cells at once.