89 French Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08854 Ph: (732) 235 8074 Email: pangzh@rwjms.rutgers.edu

Zhiping Pang, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, The Child Health Institute of New Jersey, Department of

Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Abstract:

Utilizing human neurons to study neuropsychiatric disorders

The pathogenesis and etiology of many neuropsychiatric diseases, such as addiction, eating disorders, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and Rett syndrome, remain an enigma because studies of the human brain in these patients are largely restricted to brain imaging or post-mortem analyses. Cellular analysis, such as characterization of synaptic transmission, is impossible due to the inaccessibility of human neurons from patients. Recent advancement in stem cell biology has made more in-depth analysis possible. However, modeling of human neuropsychiatric diseases is still in its infancy. Current technology of generating neurons from iPS cells is difficult, variable and time consuming. Development of better differentiation protocols and reproducibility of results across platforms are pressing questions to be addressed. We have developed novel techniques in making neurons from patients’ tissue (Pang et al, 2011). We are currently using human neurons derived from patients to study the cellular, biochemical and cellular mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders. These “disease-in-a-dish” models using iPS cell-derived neurons, while limited in the explanation they provide for the holistic features of neuropsychiatric disorders, are useful in that they may capture cell-intrinsic properties and synaptic deficits of diseased neurons. (Pang ZP, et al. (2011) Induction of human neuronal cells by defined transcription factors. Nature 476: 220-223)

Zhiping Pang Ph.D., an assistant professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology at Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is a researcher with a broad background in neurobiology and stem cell biology. Both his graduate and postdoctoral trainings were under the supervision of Dr. Tom Südhof, where he mainly focused on elucidating the molecular mechanism of Ca2+-triggered synaptic vesicle release. From 2006, he began to work on projects related to understanding the synaptic regulation in human neuronal cells derived from various sources. In 2011, he developed a novel technique to enable the direct conversion of human skin fibroblasts into functional neurons. NIH, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, Governor’s Council for Medical Research and Treatment of Autism of New Jersey, US-Israel Binational Foundation, Sinsheimer Foundation and the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation fund his research. He is a recipient of the Daniel X. Freedman Prize from Brain and Behavior Research Foundation in 2012.