Overview of our research

The Na lab studies how aberrant function of epigenetic factors influence disease states such as obesity and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We explore how the epigenetic factor known as methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) contributes to the development of obesity and ASD using transgenic mouse models in which MeCP2 is "knocked out." We use a number of different neuroscience tools to explore the contribution of MeCP2 to obesity and ASD pathologies.