Research

The research of Dr. Bai’s lab is dedicated to unraveling novel mechanisms underlying the intricate interplay between immune regulation and metabolic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver and steatohepatitis (MAFL and MASH), as well as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Particularly, our current research is focused on the mitochondrial dysfunction, ER stress, lipid metabolism, secreted proteins, metabolites, immune receptor and cGAS-STING innate immune signaling in the progression of these metabolic disease, with a special focus on liver metabolic dysfunction including MASH and HCC. By utilizing various tissue-specific transgenic and knockout mouse models and applying cutting-edge strategies such as molecular and cell biology, single-cell sequencing, live-cell confocal microscopy, live-animal two-photon microscopy, and multi-omics approaches, Dr. Bai’s lab aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the etiology of metabolic diseases, with the ultimate goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets.