Lee Lab
Juneyoung Lee, PhD – Assistant Professor
Education & Training
PhD Computational Biology and Medical Science, The University of Tokyo – Tokyo, Japan
Areas of Interest
Clinical interests: aging, ischemic stroke, Alzheimer’s Disease, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, loneliness and social isolation
Research interests: neuro-immune interactions, host-microbe interactions, inter-organ communication, host metabolism, and bacteriotherapy
Research
Dr. Lee’s Laboratory of Neuro-Mucosal Immunology explores (1) neuro-immune interactions, (2) host-microbe interactions, (3) inter-organ communication and (4) host metabolism. Specifically, these interdisciplinary studies include investigating the bidirectional communication between the brain, host mucosal tissues (e.g., gastrointestinal, respiratory and urogenital tracts) and metabolic tissues (e.g., liver and adipose tissues) in the context of age-related neurological diseases and psychosocial stress. The Lee Laboratory aims to interrogate the unknown mechanisms and target dysregulation in diseases with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic options by utilizing state-of-art techniques for metagenomics (e.g., microbiome), metabolomics and flow cytometry. Very recently, the Lee Laboratory has also established two experimental platforms within the laboratory for translational and innovative research: (1) patient induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-derived organoids and assembloids and (2) single-cell and spatial transcriptomics and related key instruments for single-cell RNA sequencing study.
Anik Banerjee, PhD – Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Education & Training
BS Chemistry (Biological Track), Texas A&M University – College Station, TX (2019)
MS Biomedical Sciences, University of Texas Health Center at Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – Houston, TX (2021)
PhD Immunology, University of Texas Health Center at Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences – Houston, TX (2024)
Areas of Interest
Research interests: gut microbiota-immune-brain axis, therapeutic manipulations of the microbiome in neurodegenerative and neurophysiological diseases
Clinical interests: neurology and neurosurgery
Research
-Neuroscience Program, Department of Neurology – MD Anderson UTHealth GSBS – Houston, TX (August 2021-present)
Mentors: Dr. Louise McCullough, MD/PhD and Dr. Juneyoung Lee, PhD
“The Detrimental Effects of Social Isolation toward the Microbiome and Host Metabolism”
Hobbies & Interests
Painting, dogs, cars, bicycling and running
Visiting Students
Dillan Patel
Education & Training
BS Neuroscience, Rice University – Houston, TX (2022-Present)
EMT Rice University Emergency Medical Services (Aug. 2023)
Ishita Mahajan
Education & Training
BS Biochemistry with minor in Neuroscience, Rice University – Houston, TX (2021-Present)
EMT Rice University Emergency Medical Services (May 2023)
Research Assistants
Vincent Kim
Education & Training
BS Biochemistry, Southwestern University – Georgetown, TX (2023)