Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research

Understanding neurodegenerative diseases. Engineering tools. 
Identifying biomarkers. Developing therapies.

The Lo & Zeng Labs aim to provide better understanding of the underlying disease mechanisms related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and multiple sclerosis (MS). We are interested in studying the biophysics and molecular functions of two major classes of proteins, namely tumor necrosis factor receptors (TNF receptors) and intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), and their implications on the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. We also examine how aberrant TNF receptor signaling and IDP aggregation affect lysosomal functions and autophagy pathways in AD/PD/MS. Another research focus of our group lies in understanding how metabolic dysfunctions and inflammation mediate body-brain interaction and contribute to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration under obesity conditions. 

Our work lies in the interface between engineering and medicine where we employ a multidisciplinary approach and a variety of techniques, including (1) bioinformatics analysis and molecular simulation, (2) experimental methods such as cell-based assays, animal studies and working with post-mortem human brain tissues, as well as (3) engineering of new tools and developing novel therapies to address our scientific questions.

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For more information regarding our work, please check out the Research page.