
Prof. Zheng Wu
zhengwu@jnu.edu.cn
020-85228384
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Dr. Zheng Wu is a Principle Investigator at Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Institute of CNS regeneration (GHMICR), Jinan University. He graduated from the School of Life Sciences at Fudan University in 2011, and later joined Pennsylvania State University for postdoctoral training. In August 2016, he was promoted to be a Research Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University. His study is focusing on the pathogenesis and intervention treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease. He has been working on reprogramming glial cells into functional neurons in the brains of living animals to replenish the lost neurons in the diseased brain, and ultimately to achieve the functional improvement in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. He is currently developing the second-generation of in vivo cell reprogramming technology, which is to convert glial cells into functional neurons while correcting or reducing the expression of disease-related genes inside the brain. In conjunction with his involvement in several funded projects of NIH and Alzheimer’s Association, he is the author of publications in Nature Communications, Cell Stem Cell and Molecular Neurodegeneration, etc., and the co-inventor of 9 U.S. invention patents.
BS, Anhui Medical University, 2005
MS, Anhui Medical University, 2008
Ph.D., Fudan University, 2011
Postdoc Fellow, Pennsylvania State University, 2016
(* First and # Corresponding authors)
(1). Hui Wang, Liang Xu, Chuying Lai, Kaiyu Hou, Junliang Chen, Yaowei Guo, Abhijeet Sambangi, Shreya Swaminathan, Chunming Xie#, Zheng Wu#, Gong Chen#. (2021) Region-specific distribution of Olig2-expressing astrocytes in adult mouse brain and spinal cord. Molecular Brain. 2021 Feb 17;14(1):36. (#Co-corresponding author).
(2). Zheng Wu, Matthew Parry, Xiao-Yi Hou, Min-Hui Liu, Hui Wang, Rachel Cain, Zi-Fei Pei, Yu-Chen Chen, Zi-Yuan Guo, Sambangi Abhijeet, Gong Chen. (2020)Gene therapy conversion of striatal astrocytes into GABAergic neurons in mouse models of Huntington’s disease. Nature Communications. Feb 27, 2020.
(3). Yu-Chen Chen, Ning-Xin Ma, Zi-Fei Pei, Zheng Wu, Fabricio H Do-Monte, Susan Keefe, Emma Yellin, Miranda S Chen, Jiu-Chao Yin, Grace Lee, Angélica Minier-Toribio, Yi Hu, Yu-Ting Bai, Kathryn Lee, Gregory J Quirk, Gong Chen. (2020) A NeuroD1 AAV-based gene therapy for functional brain repair after ischemic injury through in vivo astrocyte-to-neuron conversion. Molecular Therapy. Jan 8, 2020.
(4). Zheng Wu*, QW Huo*, L Ren, FP Dong, MY Feng, Y Wang, YT Bai, B Lüscher, ST Li, GL Wang, C Long, Y Wang, G Chen. (2019) Gluconate suppresses seizure activity in developing brains by inhibiting CLC-3 chloride channels. Molecular Brain. 2019, 15; 12(1):50. (*Co-first Author)
(5). DY Jiang, Zheng Wu, CT Forsyth, Y Hu, SP Yee, G Chen. (2018) GABAergic deficits and schizophrenia-like behaviors in a mouse model carrying patient-derived neuroligin-2 R215H mutation. Molecular Brain. 2018, 11 (1), 31.
(6). Y Wang, Zheng Wu#, YT Bai, GY Wu*, G Chen*. (2017) Gad67 haploinsufficiency reduces amyloid pathology and rescues olfactory memory deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Molecular Neurodegeneration. 2017, 12:73. (#Co-corresponding author).
(7). Tang X, Kim J, Zhou L, Wengert E, Zhang L, Wu Zheng, Carromeu C, Muotri AR, Marchetto MC, Gage FH, Chen G. (2016) KCC2 rescues functional deficits in human neurons derived from patients with Rett syndrome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. Jan 19; 113(3):751-6.
(8). Zheng Wu, Alan C. Foster, Ursula Staubli, Xia Wu, Chicheng Sun, Xin Tang, Yong-Xin Li, Gong Chen. (2015) Effects of 3-aminoglutarate, a “silent” false transmitter for glutamate neurons, on synaptic transmission and epileptiform activity. Neuropharmacology. Oct; 97:95-103.
(9). Zheng Wu, Ziyuan Guo, Marla Gearing, Gong Chen. (2014) Tonic inhibition in dentate gyrus impairs long-term potentiation and memory in an Alzheimer’s disease model. Nature Communications. June 13, 2014.
(10). Guo Z, Zhang L, Wu Zheng, Chen Y, Wang F, Chen G. (2014) In Vivo direct reprogramming of reactive glial cells into functional neurons after brain injury and in an Alzheimer’s Disease model. Cell Stem Cell. 14(2):188-202.

