Education
- BS, 2003, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
- PhD, 2009, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
Research Interests
People are under the constant pressure of making food choices, such as whether to eat or not, or what to eat. These decisions have a great impact on health and the quality of life, yet it is not fully understood how these decisions are made. The brain is continuously monitoring the internal states of the body while receiving various external stimuli and makes coordinated food choices that best satisfy nutritional and metabolic needs.
Among those needs, protein is one of the most strongly defended nutrients. The brain detects its deficiency via the liver-produced hormone FGF21 and mounts a series of metabolic and behavioral responses that are necessary for adapting to and reversing protein deficiency. For example, a mouse under dietary protein restriction stops growing, increases energy expenditure, and elevates the preference for protein-rich foods.
Dr. Yu and his colleagues are investigating brain mechanisms of these adaptive responses with the combination of mouse genetics, viral gene transduction, and an array of behavioral experiments. Their research ultimately contributes to answering the fundamental question of "Why we eat what we eat?" and how food choices affect health and lifespan.
Department: Neurosignaling
Selected Publications
- Kim SQ, Spann RA, Hill CM, Berryman CE, Berthoud HR, McDougal DH, He Y, Münzberg H,
Yu S, Morrison CD. Protein-Restricted Diets and Their Impact on Metabolic Health and Aging. Annu Rev Nutr. 2025 May 13;. doi: 10.1146/annurev-nutr-121624-114918. [Epub ahead
of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 40359345.
- Khan MSH, Kim SQ, Ross RC, Corpodean F, Spann RA, Albarado DA, Fernandez-Kim SO, Clarke
B, Berthoud HR, Münzberg H, McDougal DH, He Y, Yu S, Albaugh VL, Soto PL, Morrison
CD. FGF21 acts in the brain to drive macronutrient-specific changes in behavioral motivation
and brain reward signaling. Mol Metab. 2025 Jan;91:102068. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2024.102068. Epub 2024 Nov 19.
PubMed PMID: 39571902; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11648240.
- Kim SQ, Spann RA, Khan MSH, Berthoud HR, Münzberg H, Albaugh VL, He Y, McDougal DH,
Soto P, Yu S, Morrison CD. FGF21 as a mediator of adaptive changes in food intake and macronutrient preference in response to protein restriction. Neuropharmacology. 2024 Sep 1;255:110010. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.110010. Epub
2024 May 24. Review. PubMed PMID: 38797244; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11156534.
- Cheng H, Pablico SJ, Lee J, Chang JS, Yu S. Zinc Finger Transcription Factor Zbtb16 Coordinates the Response to Energy Deficit
in the Mouse Hypothalamus. Front Neurosci. 2020;14:592947. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.592947. eCollection 2020. PubMed
PMID: 33335471; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7736175.
- Yu S, Cheng H, François M, Qualls-Creekmore E, Huesing C, He Y, Jiang Y, Gao H, Xu Y, Zsombok A, Derbenev AV, Nillni EA, Burk DH, Morrison CD, Berthoud HR, Münzberg H. Preoptic leptin signaling modulates energy balance independent of body temperature regulation. Elife. 2018 May 15;7. doi: 10.7554/eLife.33505. PubMed PMID: 29761783; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5953538.
