Monica Dus, Ph.D.

The Dus lab studies the effects of the food environment on behavior. We know that around foods with sugar, salt, and fat animals overeat, but how does it happen? How does high dietary sugar alter the basic physiology and biochemistry of the brain to promote food intake and weight gain?

We tackle this question using a multidisciplinary approach at the interface of neuroscience, metabolism, and epigenetics. We use behavioral assays and in vivo imaging to investigate how diet affects the function of sensory and reward circuits, and metabolomics, molecular biology, and genomics to understand how nutrients regulate transcription to alter neural activity and synaptic plasticity. 

Dr. Dus is interested in outreach and science communication and is the host of the LSA How to Science Podcast. She also produces the Neuroepic Podcast, where  students in MCDB 458 Neuroepigenetics compose podcast for the public on the topics of genes, environement, & behavior. She has given several public lectures on science and neuroepigenetics, including for National Academy of Sciences Distinctive Voices, the Kavli Frontiers, Nerdnite Ann Arbor, Nerdnite Brooklyin. She was a 2022 Public Engagment Faculty Fellow and is currently working on several projects with the UM, such as a visual essay, video, and workshop on Food & the Brain.

Dr. Dus earned her Ph.D. in 2008 from the Hannon lab at the Watson School of Biological Sciences, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, NY, studying the role of piRNAs in transposon control. She carried out her postdoctoral work from 2009-2014 at the Skirball Institute at the NYU School of Medicine, investigating how the fruit fly brain perceives the nutrient value of food.