DEGREES AND APPOINTMENTS
- Postdoctoral Training, Proteomics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, 2002
- Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 2000
- B.S., Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, 1994
The Zhu laboratory studies RNA binding proteins and RNA metabolism including protein translation and stress granules under physiological and pathological conditions. We are also interested in protein phase separation and aggregation in vitro and in vivo and their relevance in human diseases. We strive to better understand the molecular mechanisms for neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and other diseases such as cancer. In addition, we are interested in therapeutic development targeting the molecules identified in the mechanistic studies.
Areas of Research:
Neurodegenerative diseases
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
RNA binding proteins in neurodegenerative diseases
Regulation of RNA metabolism and protein translation in neurodegenerative diseases
Stress granules in neurodegenerative diseases and other human health conditions
Protein homeostasis, misfolding, aggregation and turnover
Mass spectrometry, proteomics and functional genomics
Protein chemistry, biophysics, structure and function relationship
SELECT PUBLICATIONS
2020
Arenas A, Chen J, Kuang L, et al. "Lysine acetylation regulates the RNA binding, subcellular localization and inclusion formation of FUS." Hum Mol Genet. 2020;29(16):2684-2697. PMCID: PMC7530527 PMID: 32691043
Kuang L, Hashimoto K, Huang EJ, Gentry MS, Zhu H. "Frontotemporal dementia non-sense mutation of progranulin rescued by aminoglycosides." Hum Mol Genet. 2020;29(4):624-634. PMCID: PMC7068117 PMID: 31913476
2019
Gal J, Chen J, Na D-Y, Tichacek L, Barnett KR, Zhu H. "The Acetylation of Lysine-376 of G3BP1 Regulates RNA Binding and Stress Granule Dynamics." Mol Cell Biol. 2019;39(22). PMCID: PMC6817755 PMID: 31481451
2018
Kamelgarn M, Chen J, Kuang L, Jin H, Kasarskis EJ, Zhu H. "ALS mutations of FUS suppress protein translation and disrupt the regulation of nonsense-mediated decay." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018;115(51):E11904-E11913. PMCID: PMC6304956 PMID: 30455313
2016
Gal J, Kuang L, Barnett KR, et al. "ALS mutant SOD1 interacts with G3BP1 and affects stress granule dynamics." Acta Neuropathol. 2016;132(4):563-76. PMCID: PMC5023729 PMID: 27481264
2014
Yang L, Gal J, Chen J, Zhu H. "Self-assembled FUS binds active chromatin and regulates gene transcription." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014;111(50):17809-14. PMCID: PMC4273402 PMID: 25453086
https://www.pharmacy.arizona.edu/directory/profile/haining-zhu-phd