What is the impact of your research in your field?
My research is developing novel scientific solutions that combat chronic metabolic diseases. By generating actionable metabolic insights, we are transforming basic scientific findings into personalized metabolic health strategies with clinical relevance.
How can people see the impact of your research on everyday life?
My research is fundamentally shifting the paradigm of nutrition from generalized dietary guidelines to personalized, actionable metabolic health managements. By integrating multi-omics data, we are identifying the precise dietary interventions needed to optimize individual metabolic function. Ultimately, our findings promise to transform the prevention and management of chronic metabolic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, steatotic liver disease and cardiovascular disease, improving public health outcomes before illness takes hold.
What drew you to your field of study?
A commitment to elucidating the adaptive mechanisms by which tissues and organs respond to metabolic stress.
What is your favorite research/lab tool and why?
Single-Cell technology. This technology provides unprecedented insights into cellular heterogeneity within tissues and organs. Instead of average gene expression at the bulk level, single-cell technology precisely detects transcriptomics of each cell/cell type, which advances our knowledge of how individual responds differentially to a diet or nutrient at the single-cell resolution.
What do you consider to be your greatest research accomplishment?
I developed an end-to-end solution for applying single-nucleus RNA sequencing technology in multiple metabolic disease settings. My recent research has decoded hepatocyte heterogeneity and remodeling during Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH). This study offers a novel potential therapeutic target for MASH management. However, I believe that my greatest research accomplishment will be achieved in the future.
What is your favorite part about teaching and mentoring students?
I am inspired by students’ enthusiasm and curiosity for knowledge, as well as their fresh approaches to research questions.
In the context of UMN’s ‘One Health’ priorities, how do your discoveries heal, protect and sustain a future of healthier Minnesota communities?
The core impact is moving the community from reactive treatment to proactive prevention. Our personalized nutrition approach utilizes an individual’s unique metabolic blueprint to move far beyond generic diet advice. Our discoveries are equipping the primary care providers and public health initiatives with scientific fidelity to manage metabolic risk before it escalates into chronic, debilitating illness, thereby reducing the long-term burden on state healthcare systems and securing a healthier future for Minnesotans.
What is your favorite food science or nutrition fact?
You are what your grandma ate.