CENTER FOR HYPOTHALAMIC RESEARCH -UT SOUTHWESTERN
How does the brain control appetite and metabolic health?
10+
years of discovery
40+
engineered mouse lines
Single-cell to behavior
multiscale neuroscience
NIH supported
rigorous, translational research
We combine human genetics, mouse models, circuit neuroscience, and single-cell genomics to understand severe obesity and the metabolic side effects of antipsychotic drugs.
WHAT WE STUDY
Three paths toward one goal
We ask how genes, development, neural circuits and medicines interact to shape appetite and metabolic health.
Why do rare variants cause severe childhood obesity?
GENES & DEVELOPMENT 1
We define the receptors, cell types, and neural pathways that separate serotonin's beneficial effects on feeding from its harmful systemic actions
Why do antipsychotic drugs disrupt appetite control?
Which serotonin circuits suppress appetite safely?
Human genetics
CRISPR models
Single-cell multiome
We model human obesity-associated variants in mice to uncover how hypothalamic development shapes appetite, glucose control, and lifelong metabolic risk.
MC4R signaling
In vivo physiology
Metabolic phenotyping
We trace how clinically important antipsychotics alter hypothalamic signaling and use that knowledge to identify ways to protect metabolic health.
Neural circuits
Calcium imaging
Feeding behavior
MEDICINE & METABOLISM 2
CIRCUITS & BEHAVIOR 3
RECENT DISCOVERIES
New insights into metabolic Vulnerability
NEURON, 2026
A vulnerable signaling partnership in clozapine-induced weight gain
Developmental reprogramming in melanocortin neurons changes how mice respond to a high-fat diet, connecting cell identity established early in life with adult energy balance.
Our newest work connects molecular mechanisms to whole-body physiology and clinically important forms of obesity.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 2026
When early neural identity shapes adult metabolic risk
Our work identifies functional coupling between MC4R and the potassium channel Kir7.1 as an important convergence point through which clozapine promotes overeating and weight gain.
Read the study...
TRAINING FOR INDEPENDENCE
Li Li, Ph.D.
Mentoring in the Liu Lab emphasizes critical thinking, scientific communication, grant writing, and the confidence to build an independent research direction.
FROM FELLOWSHIP TO FACULTY
Great science grows when people do.
Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming (2025)
AHA Career Development Award (2024)
AHA Postdoctoral Fellowship (2023)
BUILDING TOWARD INDEPENDENCE
Baijie Xu, Ph.D.
Instructor, UT Southwestern (2026)
AHA Career Development Award (2026)
A track record of growth: Fellowships, conference awards, career development awards and faculty placements.
JOIN THE LIU LAB
Build your next chapter with us.
We are looking for curious, rigorous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who want to work at the intersection of neuroscience, metabolism, and medicine.
Chen.Liu@UTSouthwestern.edu
Center for Hypothalamic Research
Departments of Internal Medicine and Neuroscience
UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA
Chen Liu Lab
Neural control of homeostasis