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
- Zhang, Y, Gu, A, An, Z, Huang, S, Zhang, C, Zhong, X et al.. B cells enhance EphA2 chimeric antigen receptor T cells cytotoxicity against glioblastoma via improving persistence. Hum Immunol. 2024;85 (6):111093. doi: 10.1016/j.humimm.2024.111093. PubMed PMID:39243423 .
- Zhang, Y, Li, R, Li, H, Huang, Y, Mei, Y, Zheng, Y et al.. Morpho-histological and Transcriptome Analysis Reveal the Unreduced Sperm Formation Mechanism in cdk1-Depletion Zebrafish. Mar Biotechnol (NY). 2024; :. doi: 10.1007/s10126-024-10366-0. PubMed PMID:39243300 .
- Fu, ZY, Li, DP, Shen, CL, Wang, JP, Han, YX, Chen, SW et al.. Narrow-Band Imaging in Head and Neck Carcinomas: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Laryngoscope. 2024; :. doi: 10.1002/lary.31750. PubMed PMID:39243224 .
- Ye, W, Zhang, Y, Chen, L, Wu, F, Yao, Y, Wang, W et al.. A Strongly Coupled Metal/Hydroxide Heterostructure Cascades Carbon Dioxide and Nitrate Reduction Reactions toward Efficient Urea Electrosynthesis. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2024; :e202410105. doi: 10.1002/anie.202410105. PubMed PMID:39243195 .
- Zhang, Y, Yu, Y, Qing, P, Liu, X, Ding, Y, Wang, J et al.. In-hospital cardiac arrest characteristics, causes and outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease across different departments: a retrospective study. BMC Cardiovasc Disord. 2024;24 (1):475. doi: 10.1186/s12872-024-04152-y. PubMed PMID:39243041 .