During her Neuropathology fellowship, Cheng-Ying (Cherry) Ho worked in the laboratory of Dr. David Ginty investigating the molecular basis of touch sensation. She found that murine touch receptors in the skin are preferentially tuned to deflection of body hairs in the caudal-to-rostral direction. This tuning property is explained by the fact that lanceolate endings around hair follicles are concentrated on the caudal (downward) side of each hair follicle. In addition, the neurotrophic factor BDNF is synthesized in epithelial cells on the caudal, but not rostral, side of hair follicles. Her work was recently published in Cell with Cherry as co-first author.