Haoning Howard Cen

I am a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. James D. Johnson in the Diabetes Research Focus Team, Life Sciences Institute, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia. I did my PhD in the Genome Science and Technology program, UBC. My research during my PhD focused on the molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance and insulin receptor biology.

My current research project, supported by the Michael Smith Health Research BC Research Trainee award, will use a pre-clinical mouse model to investigate the effects of excess sucrose and insulin on liver, fat and muscle. We will use powerful “Omics” techniques that can profile thousands of genes and proteins in these tissues. These analyses will reveal the detailed changes in the cells in response to sucrose and insulin, which will tell us how they cause obesity and diabetes and help us develop strategies for preventing diabetes. I aim to improve our understanding of metabolic diseases by combining experimental works and bioinformatics.

For an up-to-date list of my publications, see Google Scholar.