The research program in Dr. Sun’s lab focuses on cellular senescence of vascular endothelium to identify new regulators such as long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in metabolic disease. Cellular senescence is a fundamental mechanism underlying not only age-related decline in tissue function but also the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases. It has been shown that attenuation of cellular senescence ameliorates age-associated tissue dysfunction and the symptoms of metabolic diseases, including obesity, obese diabetes, atherosclerosis, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. A deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying endothelial cell senescence may lead to new therapeutic strategies for chronic metabolic disease.