Jui-Hung (Jimmy) Yen

The primary focus of my research is to develop anti-inflammatory therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including ischemic stroke and multiple sclerosis (MS), and to further dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying the protective effects of these treatments. With regard to ischemic stroke research, my lab is interested in developing anti-inflammatory therapies that can be combined with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) treatment, the only FDA-approved therapy for ischemic stroke that functions to restore cerebral blood flow by dissolving blood clots but does not offer any protective effects for ischemia-induced neuroinflammation. Animal models, including transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) and embolic middle cerebral artery occlusion (eMCAO), are routinely performed in the lab to study ischemic stroke. With regard to MS research, my lab has identified a novel therapeutic agent, D3T, with anti-inflammatory properties and has demonstrated its effects on the suppression of neuroinflammation in the animal models of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Further investigation of its effect on the prevention of inflammation-induced demyelination, which causes the neuroglial deficits in the disease, is ongoing. Our resaerch is supported by NIH R01 (stroke research) and the Anna Yoder MS Fund (MS research). 

Yen Lab Website