Zhuohao He, PhD

I am currently a senior research investigator at the Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania, with more than 12 years’ experience researching central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Following completion of my undergraduate degree in Biotechnology at Wuhan University, China, I received my PhD training at the Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where I studied the roles of Ca2+ signaling mediated by a group of Ca2+ permeable ion channels in CNS under physiological and pathological conditions. Following the completion of my PhD in 2012, I did postdoctoral research with Drs. Virginia Lee and John Trojanowski at University of Pennsylvania, where I studied Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related neurodegenerative diseases from the perspective of misfolding tau proteins. I have developed several unique pathological-relevant AD mouse models, and also proposed a novel mechanism explaining how pathological tau may spread across the AD brains with the help of amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques. These works will provide new tools and open new avenues for researchers in the field to identify new targets and develop new treatments for patients with AD. In 2018, I was promoted to be a senior research investigator, and I will lead my independent research with a long-term career goal to develop diagnostic methods and treatments for patients with early stages of AD and related diseases.