Zhang Laboratory

Facilitating personalized diagnosis and treatment of childhood diseases

Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy: PAK1 is a broad-spectrum anti-SARS-CoV-2 target

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has had a significant impact on healthcare systems and economies worldwide. The emergence of new viral strains represents a major challenge in the development of effective antiviral agents. The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 interacts with...
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Nature Cardiovascular Research: MCM8-mediated mitophagy protects vascular health in response to nitric oxide signaling

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a systemic vasculitis mainly affects children under 5 years of age. If untreated, sudden death may occur due to coronary artery aneurysms. KD incidences vary among different populations, being highest among East Asian and lowest among Caucasian ethnic groups. But the underlying genetic mechanism is not...
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Cell: Liver immune profiling reveals pathogenesis and therapeutics for biliary atresia

An important function of the fetal liver is hematopoiesis (generation of red cells and immune cells), which peaks around 7-17 post conception weeks (PCWs). After 20 PCWs, bone marrow takes over the majority of the hematopoiesis function. In bone marrow, progenitor B cells undergo processes that eliminate B cell receptors...
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Facilitating personalized diagnosis and treatment of childhood diseases

We study how immune cells go awry in pediatric inflammatory, allergic, autoimmune and autoinflammatory conditions.

We strive to identify key pathogenic mechanisms and develop novel diagnostic and treatment methods that may improve the quality of life in children.

Cutting-edge technologies, including disease-causal and risk gene identification, single-cell based disease tissue profiling, and mechanistic exploration using bioinformatic, biochemical, immunological and animal model studies, have shaped our approach in helping the clinicians to achieve personalized diagnosis and pathogenesis-based treatment practice.