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Wenzhen Duan

Wenzhen Duan, MD, PhD

Johns Hopkins Affiliations:
  • Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

Languages

  • English

Gender

Female

About Wenzhen Duan

Professional Titles

  • Director, Translational Neurobiology Laboratory

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Background

Wenzhen Duan is a professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neuroscience, and the director of Translational Neurobiology Laboratory in the Division of Neurobiology, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her medical training from Shanxi Medical University in China in 1992 and Ph.D. from Peking Union Medical College in China in 1998. After postdoctoral training at the University of Kentucky and National Institute on Aging with Dr. Mark P. Mattson, she became an Instructor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2004. The research in her laboratory centers on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases with a focus on developing novel therapeutics and biomarkers for Huntington’s disease. Duan has a great time mentoring postdoctoral fellows and students and collaborating with the incredible people here at Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Additional Academic Titles

Professor of Neuroscience

Contact for Research Inquiries

CMSC 9-111
Baltimore, MD 21287

Phone: (410) 502-2866
Fax: (410) 614-0013
wduan2@jhmi.edu

Research Interests

biomarkers, Energy metabolism, Huntington's Disease, Neurodegenerative disorders, Neutrotrophin, Parkinson's disease, Sirtuins

Lab Website

Translational Neurobiology Laboratory - Lab Website

  • The goals of the Translational neurobiology Laboratory are to understand the pathogenesis and cell death pathways in neurodegenerative disorders to reveal potential therapeutic targets for pharmaceutical intervention; to investigate endogenous survival pathways and try to induce these pathways to restore full function or replace lost neurons; and to identify biomarkers to mark disease function or replace lost neurons; and to identify biomarkers to mark disease progression and evaluate therapeutics. Our research projects focus on models of Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease. We use a combination of cell biology and transgenic animal models of these diseases.

Research Summary

The goal of our laboratory is to understand disease pathogenesis, and develop therapeutics and biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases with focus on Huntington’s disease (HD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). We use a variety of cellular, molecular, and biochemistry approaches to study aspects of neuronal survival signaling in both in vitro and in vivo models.

Selected Publications

  • Cheng Y, Peng Q, Hou Z, Aggarwal M, Zhang J, Mori S, Ross CA, Duan W. Structural MRI detects progressive regional brain atrophy and neuroprotective effects in N171-82Q Huntington’s disease mouse model. Neuroimage, 2011, 56:1027-1034.

  • Duan W. Sirtuins: from metabolic regulation to brain aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 2013, 5(36): 1-13

  • Fu J, Jin J, Cichewicz RH, Hageman SA, Ellis TK, Xiang L, Peng Q, Jiang M, Arbez N, Hotaling K, Ross CA and Duan W. Trans-(-)-ε-viniferin increases mitochondrial sirtuin 3 (SIRT3), activates AMPK, and protects cells in models of Huntington’s disease. J. Bio Chem, 2012, 287(29):24460-72.

  • Jiang M, Peng Q, Liu X, Jin J, Hou Z, Zhang J, Mori S, Ross CA, Ye K and Duan W. Small molecule TrkB receptor agonists improve motor function and extend survival in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease. Hum Mol Genet 2013, 22(12):2462-2470.

  • Jiang M, Porat-Shliom Y, Pei Z, Cheng Y, Xiang L, Sommers K, Li Q, Gillardon F, Hengerer B, Berlinicke C, Smith WW, Zack D, Poirier MA, Ross CA, Duan W.  Baicalein reduces E46K alpha-synuclein aggregation in vitro and protects cells against E46K alpha-synuclein toxicity in cell models of familiar Parkinsonism.  J Neurochem, 2010, 114(2):419-29.

  • Jiang M, Wang J, Fu J, Du L, Jeong H, West T, Xiang L, Peng Q, Hou Z, Cai H, Seredenin T, Arbez N, Zhu S, Sommers K, Qian J, Zhang J, Mori S, Yang XW, Tamashiro KLK, Aja S, Moran TH, Luthi-Carter R, Martin B, Maudsley S, Mattson MP, Cichewicz RH, Ross CA, Holtzman DM, Krainc D, Duan W. Neuroprotective role of Sirt1 in mammalian models of Huntington’s disease through activation of multiple Sirt1 targets. Nature Medicine, 2011, 18(1): 153-158.

  • Jiang M, Zheng J, Peng Q, Hou Z, Zhang J, Mori S, Ellis JL, Vlasuk GP, Fries H, Suri V, Duan W. Sirtuin 1 activator SRT2104 protects Huntington’s disease mice. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 2014, 1(12):1047-1052.

  • Jin J, Cheng Y, Zhang Y, Wood W, Peng Q, Hutchison E, Mattson MP, Becker KG, Duan W. Interrogation of brain miRNA and mRNA expression profiles reveals a molecular regulatory network that is perturbed by mutant huntingtin. J Neurochem, 2012, 123(4): 477-90.

  • Jin J, Peng Q, Hou Z, Jiang M, Wang X, Langseth AJ, Tao M, Barker PB, Mori S, Bergles DE, Ross CA, Detloff PJ, Zhang J, Duan W. Early white matter abnormalities, progressive brain pathology and motor deficits in a novel knock-in mouse model of Huntington’s disease. Hum Mol Genet 2015, 24(9):2508-2527.

     

  • Zhang J, Peng Q, Li Q, Jahanshad N, Hou Z, Jiang M, Masuda N, Langbehn DR, Miller MI, Mori S, Ross CA, Duan W. Longitudinal characterization of brain atrophy of a Huntington’s disease mouse model by automated morphological analyses of magnetic resonance images. Neuroimage, 2010, 49(3):2340-51.

Graduate Program Affiliations

  • Cellular and Molecular Medicine Graduate Program

    Neuroscience Graduate Program

Memberships

  • American Society of Neurochemistry
  • Society For Neuroscience

Additional Training

University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 2000

Expertise

Education

Peking Union Medical College

Ph.D., 1998

Shanxi Medical College

M.S., 1995

Shanxi Medical College

M.D., 1992