Metabolic regulation; Depression; Gut brain axis; Gut microbiome; Pharmacokinetics

1. Research Projects

(1)Excellent Youth Talent project from the Central Organization Department (2022)

(2)General Program from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82274009, 81973556)

(3)Outstanding Youth Teacher Award from the QingLan Project of Jiangsu Province (2021)

2. Academic Awards

Science & Technology Award from Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government (the Frist Prize, 2021, R5)

3. Representative Research Achievements

My research focuses on the metabolic regulation of gut-brain crosstalk, in particular the signaling metabolites and downstream molecular pathway underlying diseases such as depressive disorder and irritable bowel disease. Based on the use of multi-omics, optogenetics and germ free animals, our research particularly focuses on how host and microbial metabolism of diet and drugs regulate neural and immune responses along the gut-brain axis, and their relevance to the pathogenesis of gut-brain disorders and treatment.

[1] Zheng X, Cai X, Hao H^*. Emerging targetome and signalome landscape of gut microbial metabolites. Cell Metabolism. (2022)34(1):35-58. [IF: 31.373]

[2] Zhang Y^#, Fan Q^#, Hou Y^#, Zhang X, Yin Z, Cai X, Wei W, Wang J, He D, Wang G, Yuan Y^*, Hao H^*,Zheng X^*. Bacteroides species differentially modulate depression-like behavior via gut-brain metabolic signaling. Brain Behavior Immunity (2022) 102, 11-22. [IF: 19.227]

[3] Hou Y, Wei W, Guan X, Liu Y, Bian G, He D, Fan Q, Cai X, Zhang Y, Wang G, Zheng X^*, Hao H^*. A diet-microbial metabolism feedforward loop modulates intestinal stem cell renewal in the stressed gut. Nature Communications (2021) 12, 271. [IF: 14.919]

[4] Guan XJ, Zhang YY, Zheng X^*, Hao HP^*. Drug Discovery Inspired from Nuclear Receptor Sensing of Microbial Signals. Trends in Molecular Medicine. (2021) 27(7):624-626. [IF:15.272]

[5] Zhang X^*, Cai X, Zheng X^*. Gut microbiome-oriented therapy for metabolic diseases: challenges and opportunities towards clinical translation. Trends in Pharmacological Science (2021) 42(12):984-987. [IF:17.638]

[6] Zheng X^#, Hu M^#, Zang X, Fan Q, Liu Y, Che Y, Guan X, Hou Y, Wang G^*, Hao H^*. Kynurenic acid/GPR35 axis restricts NLRP3 inflammasome activation and exacerbates colitis in mice with social stress. Brain Behavior Immunity (2019) 79, 244-255. [IF:6.774]

[7] Fan Q^#, Guan X^#, Hou Y, Liu Y, Wei W, Cai X, Zhang Y, Wang G^*, Zheng X^*, Hao H^*. Paeoniflorin modulates gut microbial production of indole-3-lactate and epithelial autophagy to alleviate colitis in mice. Phytomedicine (2020) 79, 153345. [IF: 5.340]

PI: Prof. Haiping Hao

Postgraduates: Xiaoying Cai, Youying Zhang, Wei Wei; Zhe Yin, Lingsha Cheng, Qingyuan Yan, Jie Wang, Zhiwen Lv; Mengzhen Feng, Shuqi Cao, Ziguang Li, Xuanshuang Zhang, Jingjie SiMa; Zhuo Chen, Junchi Zhou, Siqi Yu, Haoqian Wu, Yangfan Zhang, Yarui Pan.