Publications

Secreted proteins mediate intercellular and inter-organ communication and are essential for coordinating physiological processes across tissues. Advances in proteomics and proximity labeling have greatly expanded the catalog of circulating secreted...

Tumors reprogram lipid metabolism in distant tissues to support their growth. In adult Drosophila, gut tumors secrete the PDGF/VEGF-like factor Pvf1, which activates the TORC1-Hnf4 pathway in hepatocyte-like oenocytes. This drives production of very long...

Cancer cachexia, characterized by weight loss, muscle wasting, and anorexia, complicates cancer treatment and adversely affects patient outcomes. Both tumor-derived and host inflammatory factors are implicated in aspects of cachexia. The search for...

Circulating hormones, that mediate communications across organs to maintain physiological balance, are commonly detected and quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). However, while ELISA is well suited for organisms where sample blood...

Coenzyme A (CoA), derived from Vitamin B5 (VB5; also called pantothenate), is essential for lipid metabolism, energy production, and cell proliferation. While the intracellular functions of CoA are well-characterized, much less is known about its tissue...

Secreted proteins regulate many aspects of animal biology and are attractive targets for biomarkers and therapeutics. However, comprehensively identifying the "secretome", along with their tissues of origin, remains extremely challenging. To address this...

Streptomyces and insects engage in complex interactions shaped by millions of years of evolution. While many beneficial relationships are well recognized, it remains unknown whether Streptomyces produce virulence factors targeting insects specifically...

Cancer cachexia (CC) is characterized by organ wasting and ensuing involuntary weight loss. Despite advances, underlying mechanisms initiating CC remain unclear, including early symptoms like anorexia. Here, we use a fly gut-tumor model with a precise...

Energy storage and mobilization are fundamental to physiology and survival, yet their dysregulation drives obesity, diabetes, cancer, and age-related diseases. Drosophila melanogaster offers a tractable model for dissecting these pathways because its...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a monogenic genetic disease caused by mutations in the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (CFTR) chloride/bicarbonate channel, which is expressed in certain epithelial cells. Current therapies focus on restoring...

The Drosophila proventriculus is a bulb-shaped structure at the juncture of the foregut and the midgut, which plays important roles in ingestion, peritrophic membrane synthesis, and the immune response to oral pathogens. A previous study identified a...

Individual tissues perform highly specialized metabolic functions to maintain whole-body metabolic homeostasis. Although Drosophila serves as a powerful model for studying human metabolic diseases, modeling tissue-specific metabolism has been limited in...