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Teaching Staff

Professor ZHENG, Chaogu

Professor ZHENG, Chaogu

Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, HKU

BSc(USTC); MSc(IBP, CAS); PhD(Columbia)

  • 3917 3349
  • 2858 3477
  • KBSB 4S13

Research Interests

  • Neuronal cell fate determination and subtype differentiation
  • The mechanisms of synaptogenesis and neural circuit assembly
  • Neurite growth and axon regeneration
  • Regulation of microtubule dynamics
  • Modeling of neurodegenerative diseases
  • Genomic change in the evolution of neuronal diversity
  • Development of new tools in genetic engineering

Current Research

  • Pathological mechanisms and novel therapeutics of neurodegenerative diseases
  • Microbe-host interaction in Parkinson's disease
  • Cell cycle control during neuronal fate specification in C. elegans
  • The role of RNA metabolisms, such as splicing regulation and RNA transport, in neuronal differentiation
  • Control of microtubule dynamics by tubulin posttranslational modifications and microtubule-associated proteins in neurite growth and regeneration
  • Evolutionary genomics, single-cell phylotranscriptomics, and cell type evolution in nematodes

Fellowships

  • Columbia University

Selected Publications

  1. Wang, C., Yang, M., Liu, D., and Zheng, C.* Metabolic rescue of α-synuclein-induced neurodegeneration through propionate supplementation and intestine-neuron signaling in C. elegans. Cell Reports. 2024 Feb 26;43(3):113865
  2. Lee, H.M.T., Lim, H.Y., He, H., Lau, C.Y., and Zheng, C.*. MBL-1/Muscleblind regulates neuronal differentiation and controls the splicing of a terminal selector in Caenorhabditis elegans. PLOS Genetics. 2024 Oct 18;20(10):e1011276.
  3. Lu, Y.-M., Yan, S., Ti, S.-C., and Zheng, C.* Editing of endogenous tubulins reveals varying effects of tubulin posttranslational modifications on axonal growth and regeneration. eLife. 2024 Jul 1;13:RP94583. doi: 10.7554/eLife.94583.
  4. Ma, F. and Zheng, C.* Single-cell phylotranscriptomics of developmental and cell type evolution. Trends in Genetics. 2024 Mar 14:S0168-9525(24)00032-5. Review
  5. Ma, F., Lau, C.Y., and Zheng, C.* Young duplicate genes show developmental stage- and cell type-specific expression and function in Caenorhabditis elegans. Cell Genomics. 2024 Jan 10;4(1):100467.
  6. Huang, S.#, Ran, Q.#, Li, X.-M., Bao, X.*, Zheng, C.*, and Li, X.D.* MACSPI Enables Tissue-Selective Proteomic and Interactomic Analysis in Multicellular Organisms. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2024 May 21;121(21):e2319060121 (# co-first author)
  7. Ma, F. and Zheng, C.* Transcriptome age of individual cell types in Caenorhabditis elegans. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2023 Feb 28;120(9):e2216351120.
  8. Zheng, C.*, Lee, H.M.T., and Pham, K. Nervous system-wide analysis of Hox regulation of terminal neuronal fate specification in Caenorhabditis elegans. PLOS Genetics. 2022 Feb 28;18(2):e1010092. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010092.
  9. Wang, C., Lau, C.Y., Ma, F., and Zheng, C.* Genome-wide screen identifies curli amyloid fibril as a bacterial component promoting host neurodegeneration. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2021 Aug 24;118(34):e2106504118.
  10. Zheng, C.*, Atlas, E., Lee, H.M.T., Jao, S.L.J., Nguyen, K.C.Q., Hall, D.H., and Chalfie, M.* Opposing effects of an F-box protein and the HSP90 chaperone network on microtubule stability and neurite growth in Caenorhabditis elegans. Development, 2020 Jun 17;147(12).

Selected News Coverage

Awards and Honours

  • 2022 NSFC Excellent Young Scientist Fund (Hong Kong and Macau)
  • 2016 Peter Sajovic Memorial Prize, Columbia University
  • 2015 Kavli Award for Distinguished Research in Neuroscience, Columbia University

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