Education:
PhD, University of Florida
BS, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)
Research Interests:
We study the neurobiology of homeostasis, with a special interest in body fluid balance and cilia diseases. We use multidisciplinary approaches, adapt new tools, and develop novel protocols to answer the most exciting scientific questions.
Our research centers on understanding how the nervous system senses external and internal stimuli to produce physiological and behavioral outputs, and how its malfunctions contribute to human diseases. To address this question, we established C. elegans as our animal model system, leveraging multidisciplinary strategies to combine neuroscience approaches (e.g., opto- and chemo-genetics, calcium imaging, and whole-brain activity imaging), animal behavior recording, genetic screening, metabolomics, biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology (e.g., cryo-EM). By using those approaches, we aim to identify receptors, signaling pathways, neural circuits, and inter-tissue communication patterns that drive homeostasis. Furthermore, we also aim to discover the dyshomeostasis mechanisms underlying disease conditions and look for novel targets for treating human patients.
In particular, we are interested in two topics: body fluid homeostasis and cilia diseases. We will study how the nervous system integrates information from both external environment and internal physiological status to achieve whole-body level fluid homeostasis, and how the malfunctions of ciliary proteins cause dyshomeostasis conditions. Check our website for more information and news (https://zhang-lab-ouhsc.weebly.com).
Contact Information:
Xinxing Zhang, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology
940 Stanton L. Young Blvd
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
Biomedical Sciences Building (BMSB), Room 553A