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Hui Yang
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Research Direction
Innate immunity is the first barrier of the body's immune defense system.It recognizesforeignpathogensoroneself’sabnormal molecules by using aseries ofpattern recognition receptors. And those corresponding pathogenic molecules are calledpathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMP) and damage-associated molecule patterns (DAMP). Stress and cellular damageinduced by CNS abnormalitiesare often associated withthe onset and progression of several CNS diseases, which are caused bythe release of endogenous damage-associated molecules. In recent years, thediscovery andbreakthrough of the cytoplasmic DNA sensing pathway (cGAS-cGAMP-STING)haveattracted widespread attention. In addition to itsrolesin antiviral responses, our previous studiesfirstidentified theDNA-sensorcGAS asanimportantproteininvolved in chronic inflammation in vivo (Nature, 2019; PNAS,2017). Thisfindingreveals thatnumeroushumandiseasesare regulated by innateimmunity, opening a new perspective to study the pathogenesis of many human diseases and providing new clues for disease treatment, especiallyforneurological diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, andbraintumors. At the same time, we discoveredthe non-classical functions of themetabolites(Cancer Cell, 2011; Cell Research, 2014), whichcanalsofunction as "signaling molecules" to regulate the differentiation of immune cells (Nature Metabolism, 2022). This findingopensup a new directionfor the study ofmetabolism-immune interplay. We focus on the interactions between immunityandmetabolisminimmunesystem and neuron system. Byintegratingclinical resources of neurological diseases in Huashan Hospital of Fudan University,single-cellsequencing and CRISPR technology,alongwithusingexperimental animal models,neurodegenerative diseasemodels or tumor models, we hope to address thefollowing questions:
1.The molecular and cellular mechanisms ofinnateimmune recognition, activation and inflammationresponses.
2.Theinteractions amongneuro-immune-metabolismandtheregulatory mechanisms of chronic inflammation.
3.Heterogeneousanalysisof neurological disorders.
4.Drug discovery and translational research inchronic inflammatory brain diseases.
5.Translational studies of brain tumors based on immune and metabolic interventions.
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