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Dr Tuo Deng

Dr Tuo Deng

Center for Bioenergetics, Weill Cornell Medical College, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, USA

Dr. Deng earned a Bachelor Degree with honor from Peking University and obtained a Ph.D. in Biology from Tsinghua University in 2006. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Houston Methodist Research Institute and a faculty member of the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Dr. Deng began study on metabolic diseases in 2001, and continued his research in the field of obesity and diabetes.  In his Ph.D. study, Dr. Deng has conducted vital studies elucidating the target genes of PPARgamma, as well as discovering and developing novel PPAR ligands for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. During his study in Chipscreen Biosciences, Dr. Deng made significant contributions to discover a serious of PPAR agonists and HDAC inhibitors for the treatment of diabetes and cancer. He is the co-inventor of a number of granted patents.

During his postdoctoral training, Dr. Deng was focused on the identification of the trigger signal of obesity-induced adipose inflammation, which is the major contributor of most obesity related diseases.  He made the paradigm shattering discovery that adipocyte MHCII (class II major histocompatibility complex) triggers obesity-induced adipose inflammation by initiating adipose resident T cell activation, suggesting that the adipocytes act as antigen presenting cells to initiate obesity-induced adipose inflammation and systemic complications. This study was published in Cell Metabolism as a cover story and, in turn, attracted attention with editorials in many of the leading scientific journals and in the local and national press and formed the basis of his successful AHA young scientist award. At this stage of his career, Dr. Deng has continued to investigate adipose inflammation and obesity-related diseases.

Updated 15 September 2023