Research Fellow

Di Meng, MD, PhD

Dr. Di Meng, a physician scientist from China, received her M.D. degree from Xuzhou Medical College in 1987, her M.S. degree form Shanghai Second Medical University in 1996, and her Ph.D. from the same university in 1999. A member of Dr. Nanthakumar’s group, she is interested in understanding the molecular mechanism of bacterial-epithelial crosstalk. Dr. Meng has discovered that the components of the Toll-like receptor pathway are partly responsible for bacteria-mediated changes in fucosylation of the gut epithelium. In addition, she found that colonization mediates changes in epithelial glycosylation through changes in gene expression. Epithelial differentiation and lineage specification is also a focus of her investigation. Using various genetic mouse models and germ-free mice, she investigates bacterial specific receptors and cellular signal transduction pathways that mediate crosstalk in the newborn, suckling, and adult mouse intestine.