Zhenzhi Tang, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Locations

University of Rochester Medical Center
School of Medicine and Dentistry
601 Elmwood Ave, Box 673
Rochester, NY 14642

Faculty Appointments

Research Assistant Professor - Center for Neurotherapeutics Discovery
Research Assistant Professor - Department of Neurology , NMD (SMD) - Primary

Biography

Professional Background

Feb 2014-Present Research Assistant Professor,
University of Rochester, Department of Neurology
Project advisor: Dr. Charles Thornton

July 2009-Jan 2014 Postdoctoral fellow,
University of Rochester, Department of Neurology
Project title: The pathological mechanism in myotonic dystrophy
Project advisor: Dr. Charles Thornton

July 2006-July 2009 Postdoctoral Research Associate,
Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
University of California, Los Angeles (HHMI at UCLA)
Project title: Molecular mechanism in regulating alternative splicing of Cav1.2 L-type voltage-gated calcium channel
Project advisor: Dr. Douglas Black

2001-June 2006 Ph.D. (January 2006)
National University of Singapore, Department of Physiology
Dissertation: Molecular and functional study of splice variations of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel Cav1.2 ??-subunit
Supervisor: Dr. Tuck Wah Soong

1993 - 2000 Registered Pharmacist,
Xiamen Pharmaceutical Corporation,
Fujian, China

1993 B.Sc. (Hons)
Shanghai Medical University, China Department of Pharmacology

Research

My current study aims to investigate whether aberrant splicing in calcium signaling relevant genes may play roles in muscle wasting and weakness in Myotonic Dystrophy (DM) patients. I am also working on the projects to generate novel DM1 and DM2 transgenic mice expressing 440-CTG repeats and 1100-CCTG repeats in skeletal muscles. In addition, I am trying to generate a novel mouse model for the devastating motor neuron disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Credentials

Education

1993
BSc | China-Shanghai Medical Univ
Pharmacology

2006
PhD | Singapore-National Univ of Singapore
Physiology

Publications

Journal Articles

1/9/2018
Carrell ST, Tang Z, Mohr S, Lambowitz AM, Thornton CA. "Detection of expanded RNA repeats using thermostable group II intron reverse transcriptase." Nucleic acids research.. 2018 Jan 9; 46(1):e1.

10/18/2013
Rzuczek SG, Gao Y, Tang ZZ, Thornton CA, Kodadek T, Disney MD. "Features of modularly assembled compounds that impart bioactivity against an RNA target." ACS chemical biology.. 2013 Oct 18; 8(10):2312-21. Epub 2013 Sep 13.

3/15/2012
Tang ZZ, Yarotskyy V, Wei L, Sobczak K, Nakamori M, Eichinger K, Moxley RT, Dirksen RT, Thornton CA. "Muscle weakness in myotonic dystrophy associated with misregulated splicing and altered gating of Ca(V)1.1 calcium channel." Human molecular genetics.. 2012 Mar 15; 21(6):1312-24. Epub 2011 Dec 02.

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