معرفی
Wenzhen Duan is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She serves as the Director of the Translational Neurobiology Laboratory within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, where her research is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Huntington’s disease (HD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
- Division of Neurobiology
- Translational Neurobiology Laboratory
Dr. Duan received her medical degree (MD) from Shanxi Medical University in 1992, followed by an MS in 1995, and earned her PhD from Peking Union Medical College in 1998. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Kentucky and the National Institute on Aging under Dr. Mark P. Mattson before joining Johns Hopkins in 2004 as an Instructor, eventually rising to full professor.
Her research interests span a broad range of topics in neurodegeneration, with a strong emphasis on biomarkers, energy metabolism, neurotrophins, sirtuins, and Parkinson’s disease. She investigates brain-immune interactions, neurovascular dysfunction, and glymphatic system impairment in HD, leveraging techniques such as molecular biology, genetics, and advanced neuroimaging including MRI and fluorescence-based imaging. Her lab aims to identify therapeutic targets and develop disease-modifying interventions.
The recent publications of Dr. Duan reflect a strong trajectory in translational neuroscience, with a focus on gene editing (e.g., CRISPR-Cas13d), senolytic therapy, glymphatic system dysfunction, and neuroimaging biomarkers. These works demonstrate a shift toward cutting-edge molecular interventions and systems-level understanding of brain clearance and barrier integrity in neurodegeneration.
- Nature Neuroscience
- Nature Medicine
- Brain
- NeuroImage
- Trends in Neurosciences
- JCI Insight
Dr. Duan has collaborated extensively with leading researchers including Drs. Christopher Ross, Russell Margolis, Michael Miller, Peter van Zijl, Hanzhang Lu, Gene Yeo, Myriam Heiman, and Manolis Kellis. She mentors postdoctoral fellows and students and is affiliated with the Neuroscience and Cellular and Molecular Medicine Graduate Programs at Johns Hopkins.
Her laboratory, the Translational Neurobiology Laboratory, is dedicated to bridging the gap between basic science and clinical applications, aiming to bring breakthrough discoveries from the bench to the bedside to improve patient outcomes in neurodegenerative diseases.
