使用包括線蟲和小鼠等多個模式生物，本實驗室致力于闡明調(diào)控衰老的分子機(jī)制，目前的主要研究內(nèi)容包括：

(1) 篩選衰老相關(guān)的重要基因并研究其作用機(jī)理：

我們利用線蟲壽命短（約3-4周），分子機(jī)理保守的特點，以其為模式生物分析衰老相關(guān)基因的表達(dá)并篩選出確實影響衰老的基因。除了蛋白編碼基因外，我們也關(guān)注microRNA，這一類非編碼的小RNA在衰老中的作用。

(2) 探索長壽基因與衰老相關(guān)疾病（如神經(jīng)退行性疾病等）之間的關(guān)系：

長壽的個體一般較少罹患衰老相關(guān)疾病。這就為應(yīng)對相關(guān)疾病提供了一條嶄新的思路，即通過調(diào)控長壽通路來預(yù)防或治療包括神經(jīng)退行性疾病等衰老相關(guān)疾病。本實驗室使用包括線蟲、培養(yǎng)細(xì)胞、以及小鼠等多種模型來檢驗我們篩選得到的長壽基因在衰老相關(guān)疾病中的作用及機(jī)理，以期為這些疾病的防治尋找新的方法。

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