Jian Zuo, Ph.D.
Member
Department of Developmental Neurobiology
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Affiliated Professor
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN 38105
Tel: (901) 495-3891
Fax: (901) 495-2270
Email: Jian Zuo
Grants Quick Links
Education
- Ph.D. Institution: University of California, San Francisco, CA (1993)
- Postdoctoral: Rockefeller University
Link
Research Interests
The work in Dr. Zuo's laboratory is focused on the identification and characterization of genes important for the development and degeneration of cerebellar Purkinje cells and inner ear hair cells. They are taking two complimentary approaches. The first, positional cloning of mouse mutant genes, takes advantage of recent advances in the mouse genome project. Mouse cerebellar mutants, such as lurcher (Lc), Purkinje cell degeneration (pcd) and nervous (nr), are of particular interest. They have identified and characterized the Lc gene and established genetic and physical maps of pcd and nr loci. As the mutant pcd gene induces Bcl-2 dependent apoptosis, they are searching for downstream genes involved in the degenerative process in pcd mutant mice. The second approach takes advantage of a new technique that allows modification of endogenous genes in bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) with a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene and further introduction of modified BACS into pronuclei to generate trans-genic mice with labeled neurons in the developing brain. They have chosen to modify three genes that have been shown to be expressed specifically in hair cells of the inner ear: alpha-9 AchR, Brn3.1 and delta-1 GluR. These transgenic mice will provide a resource for the construction of hair cell specific cDNA libraries at different developmental stages, as well as a tool for the introduction of exogenous genes into hair cells in vivo and for making hair cell specific knockout mice.
Representative Publications
- Mellado Lagarde MM, Cox BC, Fang J, Taylor R, Forge A, Zuo J. Selective ablation of pillar and deiters' cells severely affects cochlear postnatal development and hearing in mice. J Neurosci. 2013 Jan 23;33(4):1564-76. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3088-12.2013. PubMed PMID: 23345230; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3567488.
- Walters BJ, Zuo J. Postnatal development, maturation and aging in the mouse cochlea and their effects on hair cell regeneration. Hear Res. 2013 Mar;297:68-83. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2012.11.009. Epub 2012 Nov 16. PubMed PMID: 23164734; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3594364.
- Yamashita T, Fang J, Gao J, Yu Y, Lagarde MM, Zuo J. Normal hearing sensitivity at low-to-middle frequencies with 34% prestin-charge density. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e45453. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045453. Epub 2012 Sep 21. PubMed PMID: 23029017; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3448665.
- Liu Z, Walters BJ, Owen T, Brimble MA, Steigelman KA, Zhang L, Mellado Lagarde MM, Valentine MB, Yu Y, Cox BC, Zuo J. Regulation of p27Kip1 by Sox2 maintains quiescence of inner pillar cells in the murine auditory sensory epithelium. J Neurosci. 2012 Aug 1;32(31):10530-40. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0686-12.2012. PubMed PMID: 22855803; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3427024.
- Liu Z, Dearman JA, Cox BC, Walters BJ, Zhang L, Ayrault O, Zindy F, Gan L, Roussel MF, Zuo J. Age-dependent in vivo conversion of mouse cochlear pillar and Deiters' cells to immature hair cells by Atoh1 ectopic expression. J Neurosci. 2012 May 9;32(19):6600-10. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0818-12.2012. PubMed PMID: 22573682; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3359704.
- Cox BC, Liu Z, Lagarde MM, Zuo J. Conditional gene expression in the mouse inner ear using Cre-loxP. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2012 Jun;13(3):295-322. doi: 10.1007/s10162-012-0324-5. Epub 2012 Apr 24. Review. PubMed PMID: 22526732; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3346893.
