Research interest
  • I am a PhD graduate. My research focused on the mechanisms of emesis induced by motion and chemotherapy in Suncus murinus. 
  • I investigate the potential anti-emetic effect of prokinetic drugs against motion-induced emesis.
  • I am particularly interested in the potential relationship between gastric dysrhythmia and emesis; especially mechanisms involving ghrelin and motilin.
  • I develop the radiotelemetric technique to record the electrogastrogram and isolated tissue recording protocols to assess drug potency; I use c-Fos immunohistochemistry to assess mechanisms of brain activation.
  • I am also recording respiratory function using whole body plethysmography to investigate if changes in respiratory function can provide a novel indicator of emesis and possibly nausea.

     Transmitter Implantation                 Analysis of Respiratory Function        Isolated Tissue Work                    Infrared Camera for Imaging    

​Publications
  • Tu, L.L., Lu, Z.B., Ngan, M.P., Lam, F.Y., Giuliano, C., Lovati, E., Pietra, C &, Rudd, J.A. (2020). The brain-penetrating, orally bioavailable, ghrelin receptor agonist HM01 ameliorates motion-induced emesis in Suncus murinus (house musk shrew). British Journal of Pharmacology, 177(7), 1635-1650. [PMID: 31722444]
  • Tu, L., Lu, Z., Dieser, K., Schmitt, C., Chan, S. W., Ngan, M.P., Andrews, P.L.R., Nalivaiko, E., & Rudd J.A. (2017). Brain activation by H1 antihistamines challenges conventional view of their mechanism of action in motion sickness: a behavioral, c-fos and physiological study in Suncus murinus (House Musk Shrew). Frontier in Physiology, 8, 412. [PMID: 28659825]
  • Tu, L., Poppi, L., Rudd, J.A., Cresswell, E.T., Smith, D.W., Brichta, A., & Nalivaiko, E. (2017). Alpha-9 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors mediate hypothermic responses elicited by provocative motion in mice. Physiology and Behaviour, 174, 114-119. [PMID: 28302571]