Chun-Li Zhang, Ph.D. Professor Endowed Title W.W. Caruth, Jr. Scholar in Biomedical Research School Medical School Department Molecular Biology Graduate Programs Genetics, Development and Disease, Neuroscience Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Dr. Chun-Li Zhang received his Ph.D. in Genetics and Development from UT Southwestern, where he studied under the mentorship of Dr. Eric Olson on transcriptional control of muscle development and heart disease. Upon graduation in 2003, he conducted postdoctoral research as a HHMI Fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation in Dr. Ronald Evans’ laboratory at the Salk Institute, California. In collaboration with Dr. Fred Gage at the Salk, Dr. Zhang worked on adult neural stem cells and neurogenesis. He joined the faculty as Assistant Professor in 2008 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2014 and Professor in 2018. The major focus of his laboratory is on molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling adult neural stem cells, neurogenesis, regeneration of the nervous system, and cellular reprogramming for disease modeling and drug identification. Their discoveries were extensively reported by the news media, such as reprogramming in the adult brain (The Scientist Magazine, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, etc.), DLX2's potential to mend the brain (The Scientist), astrocyte reprogramming in the adult spinal cord (The Scientist Magazine, Neurology Today, Medical Daily, Breibart News Network, The Daily Texan, etc.), reprogramming NG2 glia for regeneration and recovery after spinal cord injury (Fiercebiotech, Eurekalert, etc.), modeling human amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with adult-converted spinal motor neurons (MDLinx, Alzforum, The ALS Forum, Science Mission, ALS News Today, etc.), new findings on traumatic brain injury (Science Daily, News Medical, MD Magazine, etc.), and in vivo reprogramming of mature neurons (Discover Magazine, Science Magazine, Fierce Biotech, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, Science Daily, EurekAlert, etc.). Their work on cell fate reprogramming in vivo was recognized as one of 2014's Big Advances in Science by The Scientist Magazine. Education Graduate School Wuhan University , Molecular & Cell Biology Graduate School UT Southwestern Medical Center (2002), Genetics Research Interest Genetic and epigenetic regulation of neural stem cells and neurogenesis Human neurodegenerative diseases Neural regeneration and reprogramming Traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury Publications Featured Publications Screens in aging-relevant human ALS-motor neurons identify MAP4Ks as therapeutic targets for the disease. Liu ML, Ma S, Tai W, Zhong X, Ni H, Zou Y, Wang J, Zhang CL, Cell Death Dis 2024 Jan 15 1 4 A single factor elicits multilineage reprogramming of astrocytes in the adult mouse striatum. Zhang Y, Li B, Cananzi S, Han C, Wang LL, Zou Y, Fu YX, Hon GC, Zhang CL, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022 Mar 119 11 e2107339119 Revisiting astrocyte to neuron conversion with lineage tracing in vivo. Wang LL, Serrano C, Zhong X, Ma S, Zou Y, Zhang CL, Cell 2021 Sep In vivo reprogramming of NG2 glia enables adult neurogenesis and functional recovery following spinal cord injury. Tai W, Wu W, Wang LL, Ni H, Chen C, Yang J, Zang T, Zou Y, Xu XM, Zhang CL, Cell Stem Cell 2021 Feb Disease modeling with human neurons reveals LMNB1 dysregulation underlying DYT1 dystonia. Ding B, Tang Y, Ma S, Akter M, Liu ML, Zang T, Zhang CL, J Neurosci 2021 Jan Aging-relevant human basal forebrain cholinergic neurons as a cell model for Alzheimer's disease. Ma S, Zang T, Liu ML, Zhang CL, Mol Neurodegener 2020 Oct 15 1 61 Phenotypic Reprogramming of Striatal Neurons into Dopaminergic Neuron-like Cells in the Adult Mouse Brain. Niu W, Zang T, Wang LL, Zou Y, Zhang CL Stem Cell Reports 2018 Sep The p53 Pathway Controls SOX2-Mediated Reprogramming in the Adult Mouse Spinal Cord. Wang LL, Su Z, Tai W, Zou Y, Xu XM, Zhang CL Cell Rep 2016 Oct 17 3 891-903 Direct Lineage Reprogramming Reveals Disease-Specific Phenotypes of Motor Neurons from Human ALS Patients. Liu ML, Zang T, Zhang CL Cell Rep 2015 Dec In vivo conversion of astrocytes to neurons in the injured adult spinal cord. Su Z, Niu W, Liu ML, Zou Y, Zhang CL Nat Commun 2014 5 3338 Results 1-10 of 47 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last Books Featured Books Induced Neurogenesis as a Mechanism for Adult Central Nervous System Regeneration. In Neural Stem Cells in Health and Disease Smith DK, Niu W, Zhang CL (2015). Hackensack, NJ, World Scientific Honors & Awards L&N Distinguished Lecturer, University of Virginia School of Medicine (2021) NIH/CNNT Charter Member (2018) GSO Keynote speaker, Texas A&M University (2017) 2014's Big Advances in Science by The Scientist Magazine (2014) The Ellison Medical Foundation: New Scholar in Aging (2011) The Whitehall Foundation: Research Award (2010) Winner of NuGEN Innovation Grant Challenge (2010) NIH: Director's New Innovator Award (2009) Scientist Development Award-American Heart Association (2009) W.W.Caruth, Jr. Scholar in Biomedical Research-UT Southwestern (2008) HHMI Fellow of the Life Sciences Research Foundation (2005) Deans Discretionary Award, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas (2002) Professional Associations/Affiliations Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine (2014) International Society for Stem Cell Research (2008) Society for Neuroscience
