Fei Yin, PhD

Dr. Yin has deep expertise in neuro-metabolism and mitochondrial biology, a demonstrated track record in investigating the role of brain bioenergetics and metabolic reprogramming in neurodegeneration, and an interdisciplinary background across neuroscience, pharmacology, and data science. Dr. Yin’s major research interest is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that drive the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), with the long-term goal of developing disease-modifying AD therapeutics.

Supported primarily by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), ongoing research in the Yin lab focuses on the role of brain lipid metabolism in AD and its interaction with neuroinflammation and major disease risk factors. Dr. Yin and his team have revealed the mechanism by which APOE4 –the greatest genetic risk factor of AD– disrupts brain lipid homeostasis and elevates AD risk (Qi et al., Cell Rep. 2021). More recently, they further discovered loss of lipid degradation by astrocytic mitochondria as a mechanism that triggers progressive neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration recapitulating human AD (Mi et al., Nat Metab, 2023). Harnessing these conceptual advances, Dr. Yin’s team is now developing novel AD therapeutics by restoring the lipid homeostasis in the degenerating brain. As part of a NIH-funded program project, the Yin lab is also investigating the unique role of glial cells and APOE4 in modulating the neuroimmune system during female perimenopausal transition, and how they interactively predispose APOE4-carrying postmenopausal women to a substantially elevated AD risk.