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
- Li, T, Bo, Z, Chen, W, Chen, X, Chen, Y, Cheng, Z et al.. Search for MeV-Scale Axionlike Particles and Dark Photons with PandaX-4T. Phys Rev Lett. 2025;134 (7):071004. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.071004. PubMed PMID:40054002 .
- Tan, BY, Zhang, Y, Zhang, HC, Tang, W, Wang, L, Tu, HH et al.. Extracting the Luttinger Parameter from a Single Wave Function. Phys Rev Lett. 2025;134 (7):076501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.076501. PubMed PMID:40053968 .
- Du, H, Wang, Z, Zhang, Y, Huang, X, Wang, X. System and Technology of Breast Intervention Robot: A Review. Int J Med Robot. 2025;21 (2):e70055. doi: 10.1002/rcs.70055. PubMed PMID:40053904 .
- Chen, H, Sun, Y, Luo, S, Ma, Y, Li, C, Xiao, Y et al.. Association of Screen Content With Early Development Among Preschoolers in Shanghai: 7-Day Monitoring Study With Auto Intelligent Technology. J Med Internet Res. 2025;27 :e65343. doi: 10.2196/65343. PubMed PMID:40053802 .
- Li, S, Wang, G, Zhang, Y, Zhao, W, Yang, H, Yin, X et al.. Discovery of Novel Isoxazoline Derivatives Containing Pyrazolamide Fragment as Insecticidal Candidates. J Agric Food Chem. 2025; :. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.4c13106. PubMed PMID:40053670 .