July 2024
Congratulations to Tingxin in receiving the 2024 NARSAD/BBRF Young Investigator Grant!
Dr. Tingxin Zhang won the prestigious NARSAD/BBRF Young Investigator Award. He aims to develop novel genetic tools to better understand how dysmyelination contributes to psychiatric disorders. Congratulations, Tingxin!
July 2024
Welcome Dr. Xiaotian Liu!
We welcome Xiaotian, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab, to join us for the adventure in glia biology. Welcome, Xiaotian!
May 2024
Congratulations to Aksheev in winning the poster award on OBI Research Day!
Asksheev Bhambri won a poster award (2nd place) for his innovative work in probing the blackbox during oligodendrogenesis. Congratulations, Aksheev!
March 2024
Congratulations to Aksheev Bhambri on receiving the 2024 Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute Travel Award!
Congratulations to Aksheev Bhambri, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab, on receiving the prestigious Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute Travel Award. This grant will allow Aksheev to attend the 2024 Gordon Research Conference of myelin, where his work has been selected for an oral presentation. Aksheev will also serve as a Discussion Leader of the GRS myelin meeting. Congratulations!
March 2024
Congratulations to Daniela Barbosa on receiving the GSO travel award!
Daniela Barbosa, a graduate student in the lab, has received the 2024 UT Southwestern GSO Travel Award. This award will allow Daniela to present her exciting findings in the upcoming 2024 Gordon Research Conference on myelin. Congratulations, Daniela!
January 2024
Congratulations to Yihe Zhang on receiving the prestigious AHA predoctoral fellowship award!
Yihe Zhang, a graduate student in the lab, received the 2024 American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship Award. This two-year award will support her to investigate novel mechanisms underlying neuron-myelinating glia interactions. Congratulations, Yihe!
November 2023
Received the 2023 Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Award
We are grateful to be among thirteen laboratories to receive the 2023 CZI Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Award. We aim to develop novel genetic reagents to understand the roles of myelinating glia during neurodegeneration.
Chan Zuckerberg InitiativeAugust 2023
Lab's 1st research paper published!
We are excited to share our lab’s first research article, published at Cell Reports. Here, we discovered an unexpected role of autophagy in promoting immature oligodendrocyte apoptosis, thereby limiting myelinating glia number during development.
Cell ReportsJuly 2023
Received the 2023 Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Award in Neuroscience
We are grateful to have received the prestigious Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Award in Neuroscience. Being one of the thirteen laboratories across the nation awarded with this year’s fellowship, we aim to dissect the roles of axons in myelination and develop innovative tools to map CNS myelination.
Fellows - Klingenstein PhilanthropiesJune 2023
Welcome 2023 SURF Student
We welcome Gabrielle Sanchez, a SURF student from Texas A&M University, to join the lab for summer research. Welcome Gabi!
April 2023
First trainee’s grant awarded!
Yihe Zhang, a graduate student in the lab, received the 2023 OBI Sprouts Grant on her proposal “Demystify the roles of axons in central nervous system myelination”. Congratulations Yihe!
September 2022
Another research supplement grant approved!
We are grateful to receive the Research Supplements to Promote Diversity from NIMH, pertaining to our DP2 grant. This grant will support Payton Peynolds to generate and characterize a novel mouse line labeling immature oligodendrocytes in the mouse brain.
July 2022
Sun lab members present exciting findings at the 2022 Cold Spring Harbor Glia Biology meeting.
After two years, we finally had the first in-person meeting at the Cold Spring Harbor! Aksheev’s work was selected as the oral presentation on a novel way of culturing oligodendrocytes for genome-wide CRISPR screen. Daniela, Tingxin, and Yihe presented three equally exciting posters.
January 2022
Welcome three new members to the Sun Lab!
We welcome Payton Reynolds (graduate student), Phu Thai (research technician), and Soummitra Anand (medical student) to our group! We look forward to the discoveries that they will make in the new year.
October 2021
Received NIH Director’s Innovator Award
We are thrilled to receive 2021 NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (https://utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2021/sun-nih-awards.html)! Our lab is among other 63 laboratories nationwide to receive this prestigious recognition (https://commonfund.nih.gov/newinnovator/AwardRecipients). We are also the third laboratory in the history of Molecular Biology Department to receive this award. With the 5-year generous support, we hope to develop novel genetic reagents and methods to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing myelination specificity.
September 2021
Research supplements approved!
We are grateful to receive the Research Supplements to Promote Diversity from National Eye Institute, pertaining to our R00 grant. Come work with us!
May 2021
Congratulations, Daniela!
Daniela, our first graduate student, received honorable mention for 2021 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (https://www.research.gov/grfp/AwardeeList.do?method=loadAwardeeList).
She is one of only 4 graduate students in UT Southwestern Medical Center this year to receive the honor.
Congratulations!
April 2021
Received New Funding Support
We are grateful to receive a research grant from the Welch Foundation (myelination mechanisms), and a new investigator grant from DoD Multiple Sclerosis Research Program (re-myelination mechanisms) that is recommended for funding.
January 2021
New Members Join the Lab
We welcome Yihe Zhang (graduate student) and Sabeen Wazir (Green Fellow) to join the lab!
November 2020
2020 TARCC Junior Investigator Grant
We are grateful to receive a two-year research grant from the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium to study the roles of glial cells in aging!
Read More About the GrantOctober 2020
The Lab Grows
We welcome Tingxin Zhang (postdoc), Aryan Bhagwat (student intern), and Aksheev Bhambri (postdoc) to join our team!
August 2020
Received 2020 BBRF Young Investigator Grant (NARSAD Award)
We are grateful to a 2-year grant from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation that supports us to investigate the roles and mechanisms of myelination in neurological disorders.
June 2020
R00 Grant Activated!
We are so grateful to the generous support from NIH/NEI. Our work on novel mechanisms governing optic nerve myelination received a three-year grant from NEI (R00EY029330). More exciting discoveries underway!
June 2020
Welcome, Daniela!
We welcome Ms. Daniela Barbosa as our first graduate student in the Sun Lab!
April 2020
Endowed Scholars 2020
We are so grateful to the support from the Endowed Scholar Committee and Southwestern Medical Foundation (Three researchers selected as newest UTSW Endowed Scholars). We very much look forward to continuing our study to reveal the mystery of glial cells!
March 2020
First Rotation Student
We welcome our first rotation student, Ms. Daniela Barbosa, who is a new glial enthusiast in the Sun Lab!
February 2020
Welcome Jumin Xue
We welcome Ms. Jumin Xue as the first Sun Lab member! Jumin has served UT Southwestern Medical Center for over 15 years. We are so lucky to have her join our team!
February 2020
The Sun Lab is up and running
We are extremely excited to begin our research endeavors as we work with eager anticipation of what is to come.