The long-term aim of Dr. Xie’s research is to provide or promote strategies that achieve primal, primary and secondary prevention of obesity and its related metabolic complications. It is now well established that in utero and in early life exposure to over-nutrition can disrupt normal growth and development and thus increase the risk of offspring obesity. Therefore, important information/evidence is urgently needed regarding if and how a pre-pregnancy healthy diet strategy, under the guidelines that doctors and registered dietitian nutritionists (RDN) could follow, would be beneficial to obese women on pregnancy outcomes. Unfortunately, although women of childbearing age are suggested to modulate their BMI to a value within the normal range before conception by engaging in lifestyle changes, no evidence-based strategy regarding the optimal duration of the intervention is currently available. Therefore, The recent study focus is to find out if and how different maternal diet intervention before pregnancy would prevent the downstream offspring.

Dr. Xie is also interested in the molecular and genetic basis of heart development and the ontology of congenital heart disease (CHD). CHD is the most common type of birth defect that affect 1% live birth and account for 1/3 of the whole birth defects. Her research has been focused on understanding how important transcription factors and signaling pathways for heart development such as Tbx5, Gata4 and Hh signaling networks in regulating the inflow and outflow tract development.  She is also interested in understanding how maternal obesity or diabetes increase the risk of congenital heart defects of the baby.

1. Xu, H, Xiang, M, Qin, Y, Cheng, H, Chen, D, Fu, Q et al.. Tbx5 inhibits hedgehog signaling in determination of digit identity. Hum. Mol. Genet. 2019; :. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddz185. PubMed PMID:31373354 .
2. Liu, J, Cheng, H, Xiang, M, Zhou, L, Wu, B, Moskowitz, IP et al.. Gata4 regulates hedgehog signaling and Gata6 expression for outflow tract development. PLoS Genet. 2019;15 (5):e1007711. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007711. PubMed PMID:31120883 PubMed Central PMC6550424.
3. Chen, L, Zhou, T, Wu, N, O'Brien, A, Venter, J, Ceci, L et al.. Pinealectomy or light exposure exacerbates biliary damage and liver fibrosis in cholestatic rats through decreased melatonin synthesis. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2019;1865 (6):1525-1539. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2019.03.002. PubMed PMID:30890428 .
4. Summerfield, M, Zhou, Y, Zhou, T, Wu, C, Alpini, G, Zhang, KK et al.. A long-term maternal diet transition from high-fat diet to normal fat diet during pre-pregnancy avoids adipose tissue inflammation in next generation. PLoS ONE. 2018;13 (12):e0209053. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209053. PubMed PMID:30562363 PubMed Central PMC6298692.
5. Zhou, Y, Peng, H, Liu, Z, Zhang, KK, Jendrusch, C, Drake, M et al.. Sex-associated preventive effects of low-dose aspirin on obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mouse offspring with over-nutrition in utero. Lab. Invest. 2019;99 (2):244-259. doi: 10.1038/s41374-018-0144-2. PubMed PMID:30413815 PubMed Central PMC6354253.
6. Xu, H, Fu, Q, Zhou, Y, Xue, C, Olson, P, Lynch, EC et al.. A long-term maternal diet intervention is necessary to avoid the obesogenic effect of maternal high-fat diet in the offspring. J. Nutr. Biochem. 2018;62 :210-220. doi: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2018.09.008. PubMed PMID:30316166 PubMed Central PMC6263780.
7. Xie, L, Yang, X, He, Y, Yuan, R, Chai, Y. Polyacrylamide Gel-Contained Zinc Finger Peptide as the "Lock" and Zinc Ions as the "Key" for Construction of Ultrasensitive Prostate-Specific Antigen SERS Immunosensor. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2018;10 (17):15200-15206. doi: 10.1021/acsami.7b19717. PubMed PMID:29658693 .
8. Guo, X, Shu, C, Li, H, Pei, Y, Woo, SL, Zheng, J et al.. Cyclic GMP-AMP Ameliorates Diet-induced Metabolic Dysregulation and Regulates Proinflammatory Responses Distinctly from STING Activation. Sci Rep. 2017;7 (1):6355. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-05884-y. PubMed PMID:28743914 PubMed Central PMC5526935.
9. Zhou, L, Liu, J, Xiang, M, Olson, P, Guzzetta, A, Zhang, K et al.. Gata4 potentiates second heart field proliferation and Hedgehog signaling for cardiac septation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2017;114 (8):E1422-E1431. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1605137114. PubMed PMID:28167794 PubMed Central PMC5338429.
10. Xie, L, Zhang, K, Rasmussen, D, Wang, J, Wu, D, Roemmich, JN et al.. Effects of prenatal low protein and postnatal high fat diets on visceral adipose tissue macrophage phenotypes and IL-6 expression in Sprague Dawley rat offspring. PLoS ONE. 2017;12 (1):e0169581. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169581. PubMed PMID:28141871 PubMed Central PMC5283658.
11. Hoffmann, AD, Yang, XH, Burnicka-Turek, O, Bosman, JD, Ren, X, Xie, L et al.. Correction: Foxf Genes Integrate Tbx5 and Hedgehog Pathways in the Second Heart Field for Cardiac Septation. PLoS Genet. 2016;12 (12):e1006533. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006533. PubMed PMID:28033319 PubMed Central PMC5199006.
12. Zhang, KK, Xiang, M, Zhou, L, Liu, J, Curry, N, Heine Suñer, D et al.. Gene network and familial analyses uncover a gene network involving Tbx5/Osr1/Pcsk6 interaction in the second heart field for atrial septation. Hum. Mol. Genet. 2016;25 (6):1140-51. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddv636. PubMed PMID:26744331 PubMed Central PMC4764195.

1. Q. Fu, P. Olson, D. Rasmussen, M. Williamson, B. Keith, K. K .Zhang, L. Xie. A Short-Term Transition from a High-Fat Diet to a Normal-Fat Diet Before Pregnancy Exacerbates Female Mouse Offspring Obesity. Int J Obes (Lond). 2015 Nov 26. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2015.236.
2. Y. Zhou and L. Xie. High Fat Diet Mouse Model in the Study of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Am J Digest Dis; 2(1): 60-65, 2015
3. Q. Fu, K.K. Zhang, L. Xie. A meta-analysis of case-control studies of high-fat diet and colorectal cancer. Am J Digest Dis;1(2):127-135, 2014