Li Ye, PhD
Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; N. Paul Whittier Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Research Focus
The brain plays a pivotal role in integrating homeostatic signals and regulating whole-body metabolism. But the high energy demand of neurons also makes the CNS highly sensitive to systemic metabolic stress. We are interested in how the brain adapts to both acute and chronic metabolic changes and how such adaptation, in turn, affects the control of organismal physiology by the CNS, at the biochemical, cellular, and circuit levels. Our long-term goal is to harness the molecular and circuit mechanisms underlying these adaptations to target metabolic disorders including obesity and type 2 diabetes as well as certain neurodegenerative diseases.
We employ and design novel systems tools optimized for brain-wide structural mapping (whole-brain labeling, tissue clearing ('CLARITY/HYBRiD') and large-volume light-sheet imaging), in vivo multi-region Ca2+ imaging, and activity/connectivity-defined optogenetics. Based in TSRI, we also develop and apply high throughput screens (small molecules/CATCH, genomic, proteomic, etc.) in conjunction with circuit-based tools to unleash the power of large scale unbiased screens in intact mammalian brains.
Select Publications
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Yang, Dong; Wang, Yu; Qi, Tianbo; Zhang, Xi; Shen, Leyao; Ma, Jingrui; Pang, Zhengyuan; Lal, Neeraj K.; McClatchy, Daniel B.; Seradj, Saba Heydar H.; Leung, Verina H.; Wang, Kristina; Xie, Yi; Polli, Filip S.; Maximov, Anton; Gonzalez, Oscar Christia C.; de Lecea, Luis; Cline, Hollis T.; Augustine, Vineet; Yates, John R.; Ye, Li Phosphorylation of pyruvate dehydrogenase inversely associates with neuronal activity. 2024, 112, 959-971.e8.
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Lal, Neeraj K.; Le, Phuong; Aggarwal, Samarth; Zhang, Alan; Wang, Kristina; Qi, Tianbo; Pang, Zhengyuan; Yang, Dong; Nudell, Victoria; Yeo, Gene W.; Banks, Alexander S.; Ye, Li Xiphoid nucleus of the midline thalamus controls cold-induced food seeking. 2023, 621, 138-145.
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Wang, Yu; Leung, Verina H.; Zhang, Yunxiao; Nudell, Victoria S.; Loud, Meaghan; Servin-Vences, M Roci R.; Yang, Dong; Wang, Kristina; Moya-Garzon, Maria Dolore D.; Li, Veronica L.; Long, Jonathan Z.; Patapoutian, Ardem; Ye, Li The role of somatosensory innervation of adipose tissues. 2022, 609, 569-574.
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Pang, Zhengyuan; Schafroth, Mich A.; Ogasawara, Daisuke; Wang, Yu; Nudell, Victoria; Lal, Neeraj K.; Yang, Dong; Wang, Kristina; Herbst, Dylan M.; Ha, Jacquelyn; Guijas, Carlos; Blankman, Jacque L.; Cravatt, Benjamin F.; Ye, Li In situ identification of cellular drug targets in mammalian tissue. 2022, 185, 1793-1805.e17.
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Nudell, Victoria; Wang, Yu; Pang, Zhengyuan; Lal, Neeraj K.; Huang, Min; Shaabani, Namir; Kanim, Wesam; Teijaro, John; Maximov, Anton; Ye, Li HYBRiD: hydrogel-reinforced DISCO for clearing mammalian bodies. 2022, 19, 479-485.
