Post Doctoral Associate

Post Doctoral Associate

A postdoctoral position is available in the Lyu Laboratory, Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry on the Busch Campus, Piscataway, at Rutgers University for a highly motivated scientist interested in investigating the neurobiology of diet and aging using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The position will be supported by an NIH-funded R01 project investigating how the nervous system integrates food-related sensory cues to regulate systemic metabolism and aging. A major focus of the project is to determine how sensory information from the dietary environment, including smell and taste, is encoded by neural circuits and translated into systemic physiological responses. We combine Drosophila neurogenetics, optogenetics, connectomics analysis, metabolomics, and lipidomics to investigate how these neural signals reshape systemic metabolism and aging. More broadly, the Lyu Laboratory investigates how the brain interprets environmental information and coordinates responses across neural, endocrine, and peripheral tissues over the life course. Current research examines how sensory experience, nutritional state, and reproductive demands influence longevity, metabolic homeostasis, and age-related functional decline. The laboratory also has a strong computational background and extensive experience developing high-throughput systems for quantitative analysis of behavior and aging, allowing us to connect neural and molecular mechanisms with organism-level phenotypes at scale. Please visit the Lyu Lab website for additional information about the laboratory and our current research.