CHENG, Longzhen
Dr. Longzhen Cheng got her PhD from Fudan University, supervised by Dr. Zhi-Qi Zhao. Then she worked as research associate in the Institute of Brain Science, Fudan University, from 2009 to 2012. She did her postdoc at Harvard Medical School, in Dr. Qiufu Ma lab, from 2013 to 2016. She was selected as a member of “junior PI plan” from the Institute of Brain Science, Fudan University and established her own lab in October, 2016. She joined Southern University of Science and Technology in 2018. In recent 5 years, Dr. Cheng published several papers in peer-reviewed journals including Cell, Nature Neuroscience, etc.
Research
The dorsal spinal cord is the integrative center that processes and transmits a variety of somatic sensory modalities, such as pain, itch, touch and temperature. Our lab is interested in identification of spinal circuits for somatosensory information. Currently we are trying to dissect spinal mechanisms for chronic pain. Ongoing projects: 1) Identification of spinal circuits for chronic pain; 2) Gating mechanisms for chronic pain; 3) Synaptic plasticity of spinal dorsal horn neurons. We mainly use genetic tools combined with behavior tests and electrophysiological recordings in the spinal cord to address these questions.
Teaching
ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY
Autumn 2018
Text Book: Animal Physiology 3rd Ed, by Hill, Wyse and Anderson