Wei Wei
Department of Biochemistry
Assistant Professor
Room 441D
433 Babcock Drive
Education
B.S., Zhejiang University; Ph.D., Stanford University; Postdoctoral, Stanford University
Research Areas
- Biotechnology
- Membrane and Cellular Biophysics
- Personalized Medicine
- Structural Biology
Nutrient Biochemistry & Metabolic Physiology
My laboratory studies the biochemical mechanisms that govern nutrient metabolism and metabolic homeostasis, with particular emphasis on taurine and glucose metabolism. We investigate how nutrients are transported, synthesized, modified, and utilized across tissues, and how these processes regulate cellular metabolism and whole-body physiology. Current projects focus on defining previously unrecognized nutrient transporters and metabolic enzymes, tracing nutrient fate across tissues, and determining how perturbations in these pathways influence energy balance and metabolic health.
Graduate students in my lab receive interdisciplinary training in biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, and quantitative metabolism. Approaches include stable-isotope tracing, targeted and untargeted LC-MS metabolomics, enzymatic and biochemical assays, mouse genetics, AAV-mediated gene manipulation, primary cell studies, and metabolic phenotyping in mice. Students also gain experience in high-throughput data acquisition and quantitative analysis of metabolic datasets, including metabolic flux analysis, pathway-level interpretation, and integration of molecular and physiological measurements. These projects provide training at the interface of nutrient biochemistry, quantitative metabolism, and systems physiology.