Key interests
Functional studies of Gene-Environment interactions on obesity and type 2 diabetes

Background/biography
Mi Huang finished his bachelor education in pharmacy (2014) and master education in pharmaceutical chemistry (2017) in South-central University for Nationalities in China. Before he joined Professor Paul Frank´s team, he had been focusing on the discovery of natural medicines against type 2 diabetes from traditional Chinese herbs. In 2018, he started his PhD study in GAME unit under the supervision of professor Paul Franks.  In 2019.5 -2019.11, he visited Melina Claussnitzer´s lab in Broad Institute and got trained with CRISPR-SAVE technology. His PhD projects will use the strongest of our previously published candidates for gene x environment associations. After identification of a specific target for testing, CRISPR will be applied in the appropriate cell type. As this work will be focusing on type 2 diabetes, tissues of relevance include skeletal muscle, adipose, liver and beta-cells. Experience of working with these cell types is established at our institute.