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
- Zhu, KJ, Bachina, P, Heron, MJ, Er, S, Zhang, Y, Lifchez, SD et al.. Development and Validation of a Machine Learning Tool for Plastic Surgery Residency Application Screening. J Surg Educ. 2026;83 (4):103860. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2025.103860. PubMed PMID:41637838 .
- Chen, Y, Wang, H, Zhao, X, Zhang, K, Zhang, Y. A novel polysaccharide from Wisteriopsis eurybotrya: extraction optimization, structural characterization, and bioactivities. Carbohydr Res. 2026;563 :109842. doi: 10.1016/j.carres.2026.109842. PubMed PMID:41637798 .
- O'Regan, RM, Ren, Y, Zhang, Y, Fleming, GF, Francis, PA, Pagani, O et al.. Identifying premenopausal patients with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer at minimal risk of distant recurrence by breast cancer index. Breast. 2026;86 :104714. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2026.104714. PubMed PMID:41637791 .
- Zhang, Y, Zhang, M, Liu, Q, Jiang, Y. Follicle stimulating hormone stimulates farnesyl-diphosphate farnesyltransferase 1 expression through LSD1Ser54p in chicken ovarian granulosa cells. Poult Sci. 2026;105 (4):106538. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2026.106538. PubMed PMID:41637782 .
- Zhou, Y, Ying, M, Qi, B, Chen, Y, Lin, W, Zhang, C et al.. Cardiomyocyte-Derived USP20 Attenuates Diabetic Cardiomyopathy by Facilitating the Degradation of STING and Mitigating STING-Mediated Inflammation. FASEB J. 2026;40 (3):e71540. doi: 10.1096/fj.202503913R. PubMed PMID:41637663 .