Shi Lab
Cheng Shi Lab
The University of New Orleans
Investigating the mechanisms coordinating metabolism, reproduction, and longevity
WELCOME!
Aging is a universal phenomenon that is observed across the evolutionary spectrum. Old age is the main risk factor for many diseases including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Recent discoveries have suggested that aging is not simply the result of cells and tissues wearing out over time. Instead, it is strongly influenced by genes that appear to be conserved in their longevity functions, from single celled yeast, to nematode worms, fruit flies, mice and humans. Yet our understanding of aging is still rudimentary because aging is an extraordinarily complex process.
There are many open questions about aging. The one that fascinates us the most is: What is the relationship between reproduction and longevity? The trade-off between reproduction and longevity is observed in many species across taxa, but the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the Shi lab, we focus on understanding how increased reproduction leads to decreased lifespan by studying the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. We use an interdisciplinary approach, combining biochemistry, genetics, transcriptomics, physiology, and metabolomics to investigate signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms that are involved in coordinating metabolism, reproduction, and longevity. Ultimately, we aim to translate our findings in this simple system into higher organisms, helping humans improve reproductive and somatic health at the same time without having to sacrifice one for the other.
