Lihua Ye, PhD

Research Focus

The Ye lab focuses on understanding how the body senses, responds to and adapts to complex and dynamic internal environments. Primary interests include the cellular and molecular mechanisms of the intestinal sensory machinery and circuitry. The intestine is the main site where the body processes all dietary components. The intestine also harbors billions of microorganisms that are important in shaping our physiology and behavior. Current work focuses on the following areas: (1) characterizing the neuronal circuitry and signaling pathways that transmit diverse nutritional and microbial information from the gut to the brain; (2) investigating how the gut sensory machinery affects metabolism and feeding behavior; and (3) examining the microbial mechanisms and bioactive bacterial signals that regulate the gut-brain axis and physiology.

Research Keywords

• Microbiota
• Gut-brain communication
• Interoception
• Chemosensing
• Metabolism

Dr. Ye received her Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Physiology from the Indiana University School of Medicine and recently completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Duke University School of Medicine in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. Her research focus at Duke was the intestinal sensory circuitry development and function in zebrafish. Dr. Ye is the recipient of an early career development K01 award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) entitled Enteroendocrine cells sense gut bacteria and activate a gut-brain pathway.  This work will strengthen our understanding of the precise microbial mechanisms and the cellular pathways that allow gut microbes to communicate with the brain.