Rate My Professor Heng Du

Professor Du has obtained significant funding through NIH R01 grants, including “mtDNA Leakage and Sting-Dependent Microglial Innate Immune Response in Alzheimer's Disease” (2022–2026, $2,374,430) and a recent R01 ($2.93 million) on GOAT dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease. His influential publications include “Vulnerability of mitochondrial OXPHOS complexes in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus of Alzheimer's disease” (J Alzheimers Dis, 2025), “Hippocampal transcriptome-wide association study and pathway analysis of mitochondrial solute carriers in Alzheimer's disease” (Transl Psychiatry, 2024), “Elevated Ghrelin Promotes Hippocampal Ghrelin Receptor Defects in Humanized Amyloid-β Knockin Mice During Aging” (J Alzheimers Dis, 2023), “Mitochondria-sequestered Aβ renders synaptic mitochondria vulnerable in the elderly with a risk of Alzheimer disease” (JCI Insight, 2023), “Liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2 elevation contributes to age-associated cognitive decline” (JCI Insight, 2023), and “Ghrelin system in Alzheimer's disease” (Curr Opin Neurobiol, 2023). These contributions advance comprehension of mitochondrial, metabolic, and immune pathologies in Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative conditions.