One of the fundamental questions common to all of the neurodegenerative diseases is why a particular disease targets specific neuronal populations? The Fu laboratory research focuses on understanding which subtypes of neurons are vulnerable to tau pathology in early Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other tauopathies as well as the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the selective neuronal vulnerability. In particular, they are interested in investigating the role of cell-autonomous (neurons) versus cell non-autonomous (microglia, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes) effects in selective vulnerability to proteinopathies in neurodegenerative diseases.