Juli  Bai, Ph.D.

Obesity, which is characterized by increased adiposity, has reached epidemic proportions globally. The major focus of my research effort concerns the mechanisms underlying obesity-induced insulin resistance, sterile chronic inflammation, and energy imbalance. Particularly, I’m interested in the crosstalk between innate immune cGAS signaling and metabolic dysfunction. We used different tissue-specific transgenic and/or knockout mouse models as well as cell culture studies to elucidate the key signaling mechanism in the regulation of the metabolic diseases. Better understanding of these key mechanisms will provide important information for the development of novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of obesity and its related diseases.

• Professional Background

  Education

  • Postdoctoral Training - Obesity and Diabetes - The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
  • PhD - Environmental Medicine - Shanxi University
  • MS - Environmental Medicine - Shanxi University
  • Obesity and Diabetes - The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

  Training

  • Postdoctoral fellowship - Obesity and Diabetes - UT Health San Antonio

  Appointments

  • 2/2018 - Instructor/Research - UT Health San Antonio, Pharmacology, San Antonio
  • 2/2019 - Assistant Professor - UT Health San Antonio, Pharmacology, San Antonio

• Research & Grants

  Innovative Basic Science Award of American Diabetes Association

  1-19-IBS-147  (PI: Juli Bai)  01/2019-12-2021

  Title: The role of the cGAS-cGAMP pathway in regulating energy homeostasis.

  The major goal of this study is to determine the role of cGAS-cGAMP pathway in the regulation of energy homeostasis, insulin sensitivity in adipose tissue.

• Publications

  1. Liu H#, He Y#, Bai J#, Zhang C, Zhang F, Yang Y, Luo H, Yu M, Liu H, Tu L, Zhang N, Yin N, Han J, Yan Z, Scarcelli N, Conde K, Wang M, Bean J, Potts C, Wang C, Hu F, Liu F, Xu Y. Hypothalamic Grb10 suppresses obesity by enhancing leptin signaling. Nature Metabolism, 2022, (In Press)

  2. J Bai and F Liu. The Yin-Yang Functions of Macrophages in Metabolic Disorders. Life Medicine, 2022, (In Press)

  3. Liu F, Cai Z, Yang Y, Plasko G, Zhao P, Wu X, Tang C, Li D, Li T, Hu S, Song L, YU S, Xu R, Luo H, Fan L, Wang E, Xiao Z, Ji Y, Zeng R, Li R, Bai J, Zhou Z, Liu F, Zhang J. The adipocyte-enriched secretory protein tetranectin exacerbates type 2 diabetes by inhibiting insulin secretion from β cells. Science Advance, 2022, 8(38): eabq1799.

  4. T Xiao, W meng, Z Jin, J Wang, J Deng, J Wen, B Liu, J Bai, F Liu. miR-182-5p promotes hepatocyte-stellate cell crosstalk to facilitate liver regeneration. Communications Biology, 2022, 5(1); 1-12. 

  5. Bai J* and Liu F*. Nuclear cGAS: sequestration and beyond. Protein & Cell, 2022, 13: 90-101. 

  6. He S, Ryu J, Liu J, Luo H, Lv Y, Langlais P, Wen J, Dong F, Sun Z, Xia W, Lynch J, Duggirala R, Nicholson B, Zang M, Shi Y, Zhang F, Liu F, Bai J*, Dong LQ*. LRG1 is an adipokine that mediates obesity-induced hepatosteatosis and insulin resistance. J Clin Invest, 2021, 131(24): e148545. 

  7. Bai J* and Liu F*. cGAS-STING signaling and function in metabolism and kidney diseases. J Mol Cell Biol2021, 13(10): 728-738. 

  8. Meng W, Xiao T, Liang X, Wen J, Peng X, Wang J, Zou Y, Liu J, Bialowas C, Luo H, Zhang Y, Liu B, Zhang J, Hu F, Liu M, Dong LQ, Zhou Z, Liu F*, Bai J*. The miR-182-5p/FGF21/acetylcholine axis mediates the crosstalk between adipocytes and macrophages to promote beige fat thermogenesis. JCI Insight, 2021, 6(17); e150249. 

  9. Zhou H*, Peng X, Hu J, Wang L, Luo H, Zhang J, Zhang Y, Li G, Ji Y, Zhang J, Bai J, Liu M, Zhou Z, Liu F*. DsbA-L deficiency in T cells promotes diet-induced thermogenesis through suppressing IFN-γ production. Nat Commun, 2021, 12 (1):326. PMID: 33436607. 

  10. Bai J*, Cervantes C, He S, He J, Plasko G, Wen J, Li Z, Yin D, Zhang C, Liu M, Dong L.Q., Liu F*.Mitochondrial stress-activated cGAS-STING pathway inhibits thermogenic program and contributes to overnutrition-induced obesity in mice. Communications Biology, 2020, 3(1): 257. 

  11.Bai J and Liu F. The cGAS-cGAMP-STING pathway: a molecular link between immunity and metabolismDiabetes, 2019, 68(6): 1099-1108. 

  12. Ryu J, Loza CA, Xu H, Zhou M, Hadley JT, Wu J, You H, Wang H, Yang J, Bai J, Liu F, Bialowas C, Dong LQ. Potential roles of adiponectin isoforms in human obesity with delayed wound healing. Cells, 2019, 8(10):1134

  13. Meng W, Liang X, Xiao T, Wang J, Wen J, Luo H, Teng J, Fei Y, Zhang Q, Liu B, Hu F, Bai J, Liu M, Zhou Z, Liu F. Rheb promotes brown fat thermogenesis by Notch-dependent activation of the PKA signaling pathway. J Mol Cell Biol, 2019, 11(9):781-790. 

  14. Bai J, Cervantes C, Liu J, He S, Zhou H, Zhang B, Cai H, Yin D, Hu D, Li Z, Chen H, Gao X, Wang F, O’Connor J.C, Xu Y, Liu M, Dong L.Q, Liu F. DsbA-L prevents obesity-induced inflammation and insulin resistance by suppressing the mtDNA release-activated cGAS-cGAMP-STING pathway. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2017, 114(46):12196-12201.

  15. Chen H#, Bai J#, Dong F, Fang H, Zhang Y, Meng W, Liu B, Luo Y, Liu M, Bai Y, Abdul-Ghani MA, Li R, Wu J, Zeng R, Zhou Z, Dong LQ, Liu F. Hepatic DsbA-L protects mice from diet-induced hepatosteatosis and insulin resistance. FASEB J, 2017, 31(6): 2314-2326. 

  16. Meng W, Liang X, Chen H, Luo H, Bai J, Li G, Zhang Q, Xiao T, He S, Zhang Y, Xu Z, Xiao B, Liu M, Hu F, Liu F. Rheb inhibits beiging of white adipose tissue via PDE4D5-dependent downregulation of the cAMP-PKA signaling pathway. Diabetes, 2017, 66(5): 1198-1213. 

  17. Bai J, He J and Gao Y. Betulin Rescues Elevated SREBP Expression in Heart of Rats Exposed to Chronic Sulfur Dioxide. J Biores Commun, 2017, 1(1): e104. 

  18. Liu M, Bai J, He S, Villarreal R, Hu D, Zhang C, Yang X, Liang H, Slaga TJ, Yu Y, Zhou Z, Blenis J, Scherer PE, Dong LQ, Liu F. Grb10 promotes lipolysis and thermogenesis by phosphorylation-dependent feedback inhibition of mTORC1. Cell Metabolism, 2014, 19(6): 967-980.