Miao-Hsueh Chen Lab Members

“Growing up in Taiwan, I was very curious about biology. This curiosity of science brought me to the United States, where I finished my undergraduate and graduate studies in nutritional sciences. I completed my Ph.D. study in Nutritional Sciences at University of Texas, at Austin. At UT, I worked with my graduate advisor, Dr. Claes Bavik, to study how vitamin A regulates embryonic development by identifying direct target genes of retinoic acid in the early developing mouse embryos. I still remember the first time that I was able to successfully culture an early developing mouse embryo ex vivo, I had tears in my eyes not only because the excitement of seeing a live mouse embryo developing in a culture bottle, but also because it was so hard to isolate tiny mouse embryos, and I did it.

After my Ph.D. studies, I joined Dr. Pao-Tien Chuang’s lab at the University of California San Francisco for my postdoctoral training. At UCSF, I learned sophisticated gene targeting skills and studied Hedgehog signaling-a pivotal developmental signaling pathway conserved between invertebrates (fly) and vertebrates (mouse and human). This training helped me tremendously to transition into an independent researcher.

Currently, my research at Children's Nutrition Research Center focuses on understanding how adipose tissue (white, brown, and beige) develops and functions under normal and pathological conditions, such as obesity, a risk factor for type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers.” 

While I am not working on research projects, I enjoy hiking with my husband, Eric, and our dogs, Teddy, and Dusty, cooking, and watching movies.

I have been a part of the Chen lab for starting in 2022, working on everything including Western blot, qPCR, cell culture, and mice management. In my time here, I've gained a lot of technical and problem solving skills and I always look forward to learning more. My project in the lab is mainly focused on exploring the effects of changing Mef2c expression within brown adipose tissue. I grew up in St. Louis, Mo. and graduated from Truman State University, with a B.S. in biology and minor in chemistry. I've always enjoyed learning more about the world, which is why I've been drawn to experimenting and research ever since high school.

I am currently a sophomore undergraduate student at Rice University in Sid Richardson College – SRR DFA! I am pursuing majors in neuroscience and environmental science with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology. Working in the Chen lab has been an incredible opportunity for me to get hands-on experience to complement the theoretical knowledge I’ve gained in the classroom. In the lab, my research has centered on neuronal projections to scBAT. In my free time, I can often be found playing chess, humming to a new song every day (recently: R&B, bossa nova, midwestern emo and folk!), or cooking for my friends.

I was raised in Houston, Texas and am bilingual in English and Arabic. I moved to the UK in 1998 where I worked in a pharmacy while completing my degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Subsequently, I received admission to the University of Central London’s Pharmacy School. Soon after, my husband and I transferred back to my hometown where I received a degree in Biology and Chemistry. Before graduating in 2006, I received an offer to join the Baylor College of Medicine community at the Gene Vector Core Lab within the Division of Molecular & Cellular Biology until I needed to fulfill my role as a mother. A year later, I returned to the BCM community with Dr. Miao-Hsueh Chen at the Children's Nutrition Research Center where I helped establish her lab until I had my second child. After some time was taken to focus on my family, I am thankful and honored to have the opportunity to rejoin Dr. Chen’s thriving lab, in which I feel privileged to help manage.

Rommel Caballero-Juarez is a sophomore at Rice University studying Biology with a concentration in Cell Biology and Genetics. Outside of school, Rommel enjoys hiking, debate, and reading classics.