Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center

Members

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. Chi, Y, Zhang, Y, Zhang, Y, Zhao, J. Band Engineering via Back Surface Field Layer for High-Performance Self-Powered CZTSSe Thin-Film Near-Infrared Photodetectors. Luminescence. 2026;41 (11):. doi: 10.1002/bio.70668. PubMed PMID:42977678 .
  2. Chen, Y, Zhang, Y, Wang, P, Ma, J, Zhao, X, Li, Y et al.. Lactylation of HSC70 Impairs Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy to Promote Pyrin Inflammasome-Dependent PANoptosis in Macrophages During Sepsis. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2026; :. doi: 10.1002/advs.78586. PubMed PMID:42977568 .
  3. Liu, Y, Wang, X, Zhang, Y, Zhang, D, Zhu, L, Chen, H et al.. Free fatty acids profiling during black tea processing by 2-bromo-N,N-dimethylethanamine derivatization combined with liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry. Food Res Int. 2026;245 (Pt 5):120964. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2026.120964. PubMed PMID:42977428 .
  4. Zhang, Y, Qin, G, Jiang, L, Yang, Z, Chen, Z, Yue, M et al.. SN-PepDB: a deep learning-driven database for characterizing Sipunculus nudus bioactive peptides and their structure-activity relationships. Food Res Int. 2026;245 (Pt 5):120951. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2026.120951. PubMed PMID:42977422 .
  5. Xiao, Q, Xiang, W, Song, F, Wang, N, Jiang, W, Zhang, Y et al.. Region-resolved multi-layer proteomics reveals proteostasis-centered post-translational remodeling during mouse brain aging. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2026; :101701. doi: 10.1016/j.mcpro.2026.101701. PubMed PMID:42977261 .
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