The overall goal of the Pei Lab of Cardiac Endocrinology is to understand how different organs react to energy cues and communicate with each other to maintain whole-organism homeostasis in both physiological and pathological contexts.

Research in Dr. Pei's lab includes studies on cardiac endocrinology, with projects focusing on single-cell analysis postnatal mouse hearts to understand how heart disease affects cardiac functions at single cell level; single cell analysis to mechanistically understand specific disease conditions that induce GDF15 transcription; how heart disease impacts GDF15 maturation through regulating the activity of GDF15 processing enzymes PCSK3, 5, and 6; and identifying the liver GDF15 receptor and elucidate its signaling pathway in the liver.

In addition, Dr. Pei is researching cell type-specific regulation of cellular metabolism, with projects focusing on modulating ERRγ activity to prevent/ameliorate kidney disease; and modulating ERRγ activity to prevent/ameliorate mitochondrial disease using human iPS cell and animal models.
 

BS, University of Science and Technology of China (Life Sciences), 2000

PhD, University of California, Los Angeles (Cellular and Molecular Pathology), 2006

Fellowship, Salk Institute for Biological Studies (Molecular Biology), 2013

Investigator

Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

American Heart Association, 2006-

American Diabetes Association, 2014-

Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America, 2015-

Parker B. Francis Fellowship, Parker B. Francis Foundation, 2009