Sheng Tony Hui

The Hui laboratory aims to answer fundamental questions of energy metabolism and the related diseases: How do individual tissues coordinate their metabolism to achieve overall energy balance of the body? Why can this balance be disrupted by certain perturbations, exhibiting as metabolic diseases (e.g., high-fat diet induces obesity and cancer causes cachexia)? What manipulations can we do to restore the energy balance thus reversing and preventing these diseases?

To answer these questions, we take the approach of in vivo flux quantification by integrating animal experiments, mass spectrometry, and quantitative modeling. Fluxes are the most fundamental functional property of metabolism. Their systematic quantitation holds the potential to transform the field of mammalian physiology. This approach, however, poses two key challenges: (i) need for diverse expertise: animal experiments, analytical chemistry, and mathematical modeling; and (ii) multiple time and length scales involved, from enzymes and their reaction kinetics up to the level of tissue and animal physiology. The lab is unique in having the combination of mathematical and biological skills to successfully tackle these challenges.