Name：Jingzhu Zhang

Position：Assistant Professor

E-mail：zjz@szu.edu.cn

Personal Statement:

Dr. Jingzhu Zhang received his B.S. degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison in the U.S.A.. He received his Ph.D. from Washington University in Saint Louis in the U.S.A.. He then joined the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute in University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center for postdoctoral training, mentored by Dr. Sean Morrison, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, also an HHMI investigator. In 2024, Dr. Zhang joined the School of Basic Medical Sciences in Shenzhen University Medical School as a Hundred-Talent assistant professor and a principal investigator.

Dr. Zhang has long been focusing on the study of bone and bone marrow microenvironment. From a series of studies, he has: 1) Discovered that a Cre mouse model targets osteoprogenitor cells, a subpopulation of bone marrow stromal cells; 2) Discovered that bone marrow dendritic cells regulates the permeability of bone marrow endothelial cells, thus regulating hematopoietic stem cell mobilization; 3) Demonstrated that a growth factor Osteolectin in the bone marrow microenvironment regulates osteogenesis and bone elongation as well as its cellular and molecular mechanisms. Dr. Zhang has published as first-author in many high impact academic journals, including PNAS, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Research Interests:

Bone

Bone marrow microenvironment

Bone aging

Osteoporosis

Research Projects:

1. NSFC (China) Project (82472507):  01/01/2025 to 12/31/2028, ￥480,000

2. SMART (Shenzhen) Project (B2402003):  01/01/2025 to 12/31/2027, ￥2,800,000

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications:

1. Zhang J, Du L, Bethany D, Gu Z, Lyu J, Zhao Z, Xu J and Morrison SJ. Osteolectin increases bone elongation and body length by promoting growth plate chondrocyte proliferation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120(22): e2220159120 (2023).

2. Zhang J, Cohen A, Shen B, Du L, Tasdogan A, Zhao Z, Shane EJ and Morrison SJ. The effect of parathyroid hormone on osteogenesis is mediated partly by osteolectin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(25): e2026176118 (2021).

3. Zhang J, Supakorndej T, Krambs JR, Rao M, Abou-Ezzi G, Ye RY, Li S, Trinkaus K and Link DC. Bone marrow dendritic cells regulate hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell trafficking. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 129(7): 2920-2931 (2019).

4. Zhang J, Link DC. Targeting of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells by Cre-Recombinase Transgenes Commonly Used to Target Osteoblast Lineage Cells. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 31(11): 2001-2007 (2016).