Hong Xu, PhD

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Research Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Department: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Contact information
3400 Spruce Street
6 Maloney
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Education:
B.Sc.
Southwest Forestry College, Yunnan, China (Biotechnology), 2006.
M.Sc.
Tongji University, Shanghai, China (Molecular Biology), 2009.
Ph.D.
Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany (Human Biology), 2015.
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Description of Research Expertise

I performed translational studies to elucidate therapeutic targets for tauopathies and gained valuable experience working with a variety of tauopathy models, including neuron cultures and transgenic mouse models. My doctoral research proved that synthesized siRNAs could be used as a novel therapeutic treatment to mitigate tau pathology in vitro and in vivo and elucidated the molecular pathways of how PERK protein modulates the turnover of pathological tau. Through my graduate and doctoral research experiences, I have developed strong skills in biochemistry, immunohistochemistry, microscopy, and behavior testing. I continued my postdoctoral training at the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the past several years of my postdoctoral fellowship, I have further insights into tau transmission using cell and animal models to recapitulate human tau pathology in patient postmortem brains.

Selected Publications

Zhao X, Zeng W, Xu H, Sun Z, Hu Y, Peng B, McBride JD, Duan J, Deng J, Zhang B, Kim SJ, Zoll B, Saito T, Sasaguri H, Saido TC, Ballatore C, Yao H, Wang Z, Trojanowski JQ, Brunden KR, Lee VM, He Z.: A microtubule stabilizer ameliorates protein pathogenesis and neurodegeneration in mouse models of repetitive traumatic brain injury. Sci Transl Med 15: eabo6889, Sep 2023.

Zhang ZY, Harischandra DS, Wang R, Ghaisas S, Zhao JY, McMonagle TP, Zhu G, Lacuarta KD, Song J, Trojanowski JQ, Xu H, Lee VM, Yang X.: TRIM11 protects against tauopathies and is down-regulated in Alzheimer's disease. Science 381: eadd6696, Jul 2023.

Zhang S, Zhu R, Pan B, Xu H, Olufemi MF, Gathagan RJ, Li Y, Zhang L, Zhang J, Xiang W, Kagan EM, Cao X, Yuan C, Kim SJ, Williams CK, Magaki S, Vinters HV, Lashuel HA, Garcia BA, James Petersson E, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM, Peng C.: Post-translational modifications of soluble α-synuclein regulate the amplification of pathological α-synuclein. Nat Neurosci 26(2): 213-225, February 2023 Notes: doi: 10.1038/s41593-022-01239-7. Epub 2023 Jan 23.

Xu H, Lee VM.: In Vitro Amplification of Pathogenic Tau Seeds from Neurodegenerative Disease Patient Brains. Methods Mol Biol 2561(no issue): 279-292, no month 2023 Notes: doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2655-9_15.

Dregni AJ, Duan P, Xu H, Changolkar L, El Mammeri N, Lee VM, Hong M.: Fluent molecular mixing of Tau isoforms in Alzheimer's disease neurofibrillary tangles. Nat Commun 13: 2967, May 2022.

Hunter M, Spiller KJ, Dominique MA, Xu H, Hunter FW, Fang TC, Canter RG, Roberts CJ, Ransohoff RM, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM.: Microglial transcriptome analysis in the rNLS8 mouse model of TDP-43 proteinopathy reveals discrete expression profiles associated with neurodegenerative progression and recovery. Acta Neuropathol Commun 9: 140, Aug 2021.

Xu H, O'Reilly M, Gibbons GS, Changolkar L, McBride JD, Riddle DM, Zhang B, Stieber A, Nirschl J, Kim SJ, Hoxha KH, Brunden KR, Schellenberg GD, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM.: In vitro amplification of pathogenic tau conserves disease-specific bioactive characteristics. Acta Neuropathol 141(2): 193-215, Feb 2021.

Bassil F, Meymand ES, Brown HJ, Xu H, Cox TO, Pattabhiraman S, Maghames CM, Wu Q, Zhang B, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VM.: α-Synuclein modulates tau spreading in mouse brains. J Exp Med 218(1): e20192193, Jan 2021.

Gibbons GS, Kim SJ, Wu Q, Riddle DM, Leight SN, Changolkar L, Xu H, Meymand ES, O'Reilly M, Zhang B, Brunden KR, Trojanowski JQ, Lee VMY.: Conformation-selective tau monoclonal antibodies inhibit tau pathology in primary neurons and a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Mol Neurodegener 15(1): 64, Nov 2020.

Ferrie JJ, Lengyel-Zhand Z, Janssen B, Lougee MG, Giannakoulias S, Hsieh CJ, Pagar VV, Weng CC, Xu H, Graham TJA, Lee VM, Mach RH, Petersson EJ.: Identification of a nanomolar affinity α-synuclein fibril imaging probe by ultra-high throughput in silico screening. Chem Sci 11: 12746-12754, Sep 2020 Notes: No issue.

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Last updated: 01/26/2024
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