Zezong Gu, MD. PhD

JAD profile

Affiliation(s): 

University of Missouri; Columbia

Areas of Interest: 

Alzheimer's disease, impact or blast induced traumatic brain injuries (TBI), stroke, TBI induced dementia, mitochondria, oxidative stress, protein post-translational modifications by S-nitrosylation and oxidation

Biography & Research: 

Zezong Gu, MD, PhD, is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences at the University of Missouri (MU) School of Medicine. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in cell biology and neuroscience from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; while his medical degree (M.D.) was conferred from Tianjin Medical University in China. His postdoctoral training was in The Burnham Institute for Medical Research, La Jolla, CA. Research of Gu’s lab interests in aging and neurodegenerative diseases include ischemia and brain injury on the nitrosative/oxidative stress-mediated redox signal transduction using both cell-based and in vivo rodent disease models. In particular, his lab focuses on posttranslational modifications (PTM) of critical cysteine residues of proteins by S-nitrosylation and their impact on protein proteolysis, mitochondrial fragmentation and dysfunction leading to neuronal cell death. Dr. Gu has developed comprehensive approaches by 2D-nitroDIGE and isobaric-based detection of cysteine-based PTMs for quantification of various redox-based mitochondrial signaling events. His lab uses multidisciplinary approaches towards research, including microsurgery, neurobehavioral assessment, pharmacology, molecular imaging and ultrastructural analysis by electron microscopy, protein biochemistry and quantitative proteomics. His research has been supported by various national and local funding agencies over the years, and produced 70+ scientific articles in collaboration with 30+ investigators.