معرفی
Lihua Sun serves as Associate Professor in the Clinical Department and Collegium Researcher at the PET Center, University of Turku, where she investigates brain-body interactions in metabolic and psychiatric disorders using advanced neuroimaging techniques.
Her educational foundation includes a PhD (Honors) in System Neuroscience and Neuroendocrinology.
Professor Sun's research centers on seasonal brain variations, neurotransmitter dynamics (dopamine/opioid systems), and brain-body metabolic crosstalk. She employs PET imaging to explore how day length affects brain glucose metabolism, why winter enhances brain-brown fat interactions, and how hormones like secretin modulate appetite. Her work bridges clinical psychiatry (anorexia, obesity, seasonal depression) with molecular neuroscience, revealing biological mechanisms underlying eating disorders and mood conditions.
Analysis of her 10 recent publications (2023-2025) shows consistent focus on translational neuroscience themes: seasonal neurochemical fluctuations, obesity-related brain changes, and neurotransmitter abnormalities in psychiatric conditions. Key trends include the use of twin cohorts to isolate BMI effects, repeated-measures PET to track seasonal variations, and multimodal approaches linking receptor availability with behavioral outcomes.
As an active researcher with continuous high-impact publications, Professor Sun likely leads grant-funded projects supporting graduate training and clinical collaborations. Her position at the PET Center provides access to advanced imaging infrastructure for human neuroscience research.
Her primary research base operates within the PET Center ecosystem at University of Turku, facilitating interdisciplinary studies connecting neuroscience, endocrinology, and psychiatry through shared imaging resources and clinical partnerships.
