The research program of Dr. Yan Zhang focuses on understanding the cell death mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Her group has found that intracellular amyloid β is toxic to neurons and can trigger cell death in neurons during early AD development. Furthermore, her group studied the roles of a cell-cell connecting structure tunneling-nanotube in transferring cellular contents, including amyloid β, to propagate cell death from cells to cells to induce a cascade of neurodegeration. In the other hand of neurodegeration, her group found that the alteration and plasticity of axon and axon initial segment (AIS) in AD models.

In future work her lab will investigate the mechanisms of the plasticity of axon and AIS and how this would be affected in AD models. Trained as a neuroscientist who has been working closely with psychologists and clinicians, Dr. Zhang looks forward to fruitful collaborations with colleagues in all areas of expertise.

Dr. Zhang received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Peking University, master's degree in Neuroscience from Carleton University, and Ph.D. degree in Neurology and Neurosurgery from the McGill University. In 2005 she joined College of Life Sciences at Peking University as an Associate Professor. She is now a Professor since 2012.

For more information, please visit Prof.Yang Zhang 's website:

http://mgv.pku.edu.cn/?co=posts&ac=faculty&catalog=cnpiintro&pname=cn_Zhang_Yan