Research Interests

• Understanding how meal timing resets the daily rhythms of metabolism and physiology. Developing clock-modulating strategies with cellular precision to improve health and well-being.
• We have recently identified the tissue-specific pattern of peripheral clocks and omics with regard to adapting to eating schedule, which gives rise to the concept of “Hierarchical Structure of Peripheral Clocks”. The hierarchy of peripheral clocks indicates the presence of clock-modulated checkpoints (CCPs) as molecular underpinnings to integrate temporal signals from both meal timing and the circadian clock for outputting circadian rhythms in resident organs.
• Focus on elucidating molecular mechanisms of the hierarchy of peripheral clocks and tissue-specific clock-modulated checkpoints in metabolic organs such as the heart, liver, and adipose tissue. The research program applies molecular biology, metabolic/circadian phenotyping, and systems biology and collaborates with clinical research units.