Research in the Rothermel Laboratory focuses on deciphering the molecular mechanisms that control cardiac structure and function during normal development and in response to pathological stress.

We use live-cell microscopy, nano-rheology, and synthetic biology to understand oocyte ageing, embryogenesis, and cancer onset.

My lab has a long-time interest in understanding the mechanisms of transcription and gene regulation in mammalian cells using initially cell-free systems reconstituted with purified gene-specific transcription factors, general cofactors, and components of the general transcription machinery to recapitulate transcriptional events in vitro. 

Our lab is interested in addressing a fundamental question of cell biology: How are organelles spatially organized?

Zeng Lab is interested in understanding at the molecular level key questions lying at the interface between biochemistry, cell biology, metabolic and neural physiology, including the bidirectional communication between autonomic neurons and adipocytes, the molecular basis of the phenotypic plasticity, or the lack of, in brown, beige and white adipocytes, and roles of uncharacterized enzymatic pathways in adipose thermogenesis.