Research Areas:

Our group is interested in how to integrate the analyses and explanation of brain-scale datasets to gain a global level of understanding how the brain works. In addition, we are also interested in the transcriptome dynamics of early brain development and the general design principles of the transcriptional and translational system.

There are two main focuses in our laboratory currently.

1. Integrative analysis of brain-wide datasets. The aim of this project is to bridge the gap between molecular and functional brain activity.The detailed aims of this project are:1) Identify the relationship between brain regional connectivity and cell type based gene expression.2) Investigate whether the regional difference of cell type based gene expression and connectivity can reflect differences in functional brain activity (such as resting state fMRI in mice).3) Compare the brain-wide transcriptomes of human, mouse and non-human primate to gain insight into the uniqueness of human brain cell type evolution.

2. Transcriptome dynamics of early brain development. Recently it was found that there is a genome-wide remodeling during the development of human brain. Usually neurodevelopmental disease genes (such as Autism genes) are upregulated and peak after birth, which indicates a critical developmental stage exists for those genes. In this direction we will utilize next generation sequencing techniques to investigate the transcriptome dynamics in both early human and mouse brain.

The detailed aims of this project are:1) Identify the key genes that lead to this transcriptome remodeling during development of the brain. 2) Model how the metabolic network could influence brain development. 3) Model the whole transcriptomic changes in early brain development by utilizing knock out mice of those key genes.

Brief Biography:

Mar. 2016 - present: Professor, Principal Investigator, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, China

Aug 2011 - Feb 2016: Postdoctoral Researcher in Department of Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, U.S.

Aug 2007 - Sept 2010: Doctor of Philosophy in Bioinformatics, Computer Science Department, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany

Sept 2002 - July 2006: Bachelor of Science in Bioscience, Life Science School, Shandong University of Technology, China

Selected Publications: (*Corresponding Author)

1. Zongyang Lu, Jie Li, Yong Lu, Ling Li, Wei Wang, Chenchen Zhang, Libing Xu, Yanhong Nie, Changshan Gao, Xinyan Bian, Zhen Liu*, Guang-Zhong Wang*, Qiang Sun*. Cynomolgus-rhesus hybrid macaques serve as a platform for imprinting studies. The Innovation 2023;4(3):100436.
2. Wei Wang, Tingting Bo, Ge Zhang, Jie Li, Junjie Ma, Liangxiao Ma, Ganlu Hu, Huige Tong, Qian Lv, Daniel J. Araujo, Dong Luo, Yuejun Chen, Meiyun Wang, Zheng Wang*, Guang-Zhong Wang*. Noncoding transcripts are linked to brain resting-state activity in non-human primates. Cell Reports 2023;42(6):112652.
3. Tingting Bo, Jie Li, Ganlu Hu, Ge Zhang, Wei Wang, Qian Lv, Shaoling Zhao, Junjie Ma, Meng Qin, Xiaohui Yao, Meiyun Wang, Guang-Zhong Wang*, Zheng Wang*. Brain-wide and cell-specific transcriptomic insights into MRI-derived cortical morphology in macaque monkeys. Nat Commun 2023;14(1):1499.
4. Jie Li, Pengxing Nie, Christoph W Turck, Guang-Zhong Wang*. Gene networks under circadian control exhibit diurnal organization in primate organs. Commun Biol 2022;5(1):76.
5. Ganlu Hu, Jie Li, Guang-Zhong Wang*. Significant Evolutionary Constraints on Neuron Cells Revealed by Single-Cell Transcriptomics. Genome Biol Evol 2020;12(4):300-308.
6. Wei Wang, Guang-Zhong Wang*. Twin-peak temporal regulation during human neocortical development. Cell Discov 2019;5:61.
7. Stefano Berto^#, Guang-Zhong Wang^#, James Germi, Bradley C Lega, Genevieve Konopka. Human Genomic Signatures of Brain Oscillations During Memory Encoding. Cereb Cortex 2018;28(5):1733-1748.
8. Simone Marini*, Nelson Nazzicari, Filippo Biscarini, Guang-Zhong Wang*. Dscam1 web server: online prediction of Dscam1 self- and hetero-affinity. Bioinformatics 2017;33(12):1879-1880.
9. Guang-Zhong Wang, Stephanie L Hickey, Lei Shi, Hung-Chung Huang, Prachi Nakashe, Nobuya Koike, Benjamin P Tu, Joseph S Takahashi, Genevieve Konopka. Cycling Transcriptional Networks Optimize Energy Utilization on a Genome Scale. Cell Rep 2015;13(9):1868-1880.
10. Guang-Zhong Wang^#, T Grant Belgard^#, Deng Mao, Leslie Chen, Stefano Berto, Todd M Preuss, Hanzhang Lu, Daniel H Geschwind, Genevieve Konopka. Correspondence between Resting-State Activity and Brain Gene Expression. Neuron 2015;88(4):659-666.
11. Genevieve Konopka, Tara Friedrich, Jeremy Davis-Turak, Kellen Winden, Michael C. Oldham, Fuying Gao, Leslie Chen, Guang-Zhong Wang, Rui Luo, Todd M. Preuss, Daniel H. Geschwind. Human-Specific Transcriptional Networks in the Brain, Human-specific transcriptional networks in the brain. Neuron 2012;75(4):601-617.