Zhang, Ye, Ph.D.

Research

Astrocyte development and the roles of astrocytes in diseases

Appointments

• Assistant Professor
• Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center
• Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior

Biography

Astrocytes constitute at least a third of all cells in human brains. Long thought to be passive support cells, astrocytes are recently found to be critical for the development and function of the central nervous system. Accumulating evidence show that astrocytes are involved in almost every type of neurological and psychiatric disorder.

The cellular and molecular mechanisms that control astrocyte development as well as dysfunction of astrocytes in neurological and psychiatric disorders remains poorly understood.

We combine cell culture and mouse genetic approaches to study the following questions:

• What signals regulate astrocyte maturation?
• How is astrocyte differentiation regulated?
• Can we improve treatment of glioblastoma by studying astrocyte development?
• Are astrocytes involved in intellectual disability and autism?

Publications

1. Sheng, D, Wang, T, Zhang, Y, Sun, M, Liu, R, Zhang, X et al.. Reconstruction and analysis of pore blockage fouling in ceramic ultrafiltration membranes through FIB-SEM. Nat Commun. 2025; :. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-67662-z. PubMed PMID:41398411 .
2. Chen, X, Ren, Y, Dong, H, Jiang, X, Zheng, X, Duan, E et al.. Natural variation in OsTPS8 confers differential regulation of chalkiness and seed vigor in indica and japonica rice. Nat Genet. 2025; :. doi: 10.1038/s41588-025-02429-2. PubMed PMID:41398376 .
3. Xu, M, Li, Z, Yu, J, Li, M, Zhang, Y, Huang, S et al.. Wnt/FGF20 signaling axis promotes migration of proximal blastema cell during tail regeneration of Gekko japonicus. Commun Biol. 2025; :. doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-09360-6. PubMed PMID:41398307 .
4. Li, D, Yang, L, He, L, Liu, B, Yuan, Y, Wang, Z et al.. H₂O₂-propelled Janus nanomotor for synergistic treatment of drug-resistant biofilm infections. J Nanobiotechnology. 2025; :. doi: 10.1186/s12951-025-03904-y. PubMed PMID:41398284 .
5. Xiao, Y, Liu, H, Wang, P, Zhang, Y, Wang, F, Jing, H et al.. Microbial population structure along the water columns and sediments in the Diamantina and Kermadec trenches. BMC Biol. 2025; :. doi: 10.1186/s12915-025-02490-7. PubMed PMID:41398277 .

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