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, Liu, Q, Song, M, Huang, Q, Zhao, Q, Tao, Q et al.. Gestational Hypertension as a Mediator of Prenatal Ozone Exposure and Term Low Birth Weight: Birth Cohort Study. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2026;12 :e81412. doi: 10.2196/81412. PubMed PMID:41950506 .
- Song, YY, Wang, W, Wang, ZY, Zhang, Y, Yu, ZP, Zhang, ZQ et al.. An Ethanol/Ammonia Dual-Responsive Membrane for Separating Complex Emulsions via Vapor Stimulation. Langmuir. 2026; :. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.5c06487. PubMed PMID:41950371 .
- Zhang, X, Luo, Y, Han, Z, Meng, R, Geng, S, Zhang, Y et al.. Transgenerational Effects of the Flavonoid Rutin on Population Fitness and Metabolic Dynamics in Spodoptera frugiperda. Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 2026;121 (4):e70156. doi: 10.1002/arch.70156. PubMed PMID:41950338 .
- Cheng, Y, Li, T, Wang, M, Lan, C, Fan, H, He, Z et al.. Pharmacological activation of WASp potentiates macrophage phagocytosis and enhances ibrutinib efficacy against mouse models of brain tumors. Sci Transl Med. 2026;18 (844):eaed1155. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aed1155. PubMed PMID:41950303 .
- Zhang, Y, Chu, R, Dong, Q, Hu, X, You, K, Zhou, Z et al.. Mask Balancing: Perception-Driven Dynamic Visibility Enhancement for Occlusion-Capable Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph. 2026;PP :. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2026.3679903. PubMed PMID:41950137 .