細胞壓力的增加是老化最主要的現象之一，而造成這個現象的原因是細胞抗壓的能力會隨著年紀增長而衰退．我們實驗室主要的研究課題就是要暸解細胞抗壓反應是如何被控制的．這是一個在生物學上相當有意思的課題，因為細胞抗壓反應強度的高低可以決定動物的壽命長短．此外，在醫學上細胞抗壓反應也和許多老化的退化性疾病相關．在實驗室裡，我們用斑馬魚來探討各種生理反應對細胞抗壓能力的影響．我們主要聚焦在熱休克反應 (heat shock response)與粒線體壓力反應 (mitochondrial UPR)．我們也會用斑馬魚建立老化相關的退化疾病模式，來研究細胞抗壓反應在其中扮演的角色．

As we age, our cells tend to accumulate more and more damages in DNA, proteins and other bio-molecules. Our cells have evolved a set of abilities to fix the damages. These abilities are the “cellular stresses responses” because of their role in mitigating cellular homeostatic imbalance, i.e., stress. When in decline, the cellular stress responses are responsible for causing aging; on the other hand, when hyper-activated, they are able to extend lifespan. We are interested in understanding how the cellular stress responses, including the heat shock response and the mitochondrial UPR, are regulated. Particularly, we would like to investigate how physiology intersects with the cellular stress responses. Our main strategy is to use a vertebrate model organism, zebrafish, to explore how various veterbrate physiological processes, which are highly similar between zebrafish and human, play a role in orchestrating cellular stress responses at the systemic level, and furthermore, to gain understanding of age-related diseases from this perspective.