Zhu Lab · Johns Hopkins Medicine
Research
Research focus areas
Stress-induced Psychosocial Behavior
Our lab explores how stress-associated molecular pathways — including gut immune signaling and microglial glutaminase activity — drive depression-relevant behaviors, and works to develop novel therapeutic interventions to reverse them.
HIV & CNS Comorbidities
Understanding CNS co-morbidities in people living with HIV is central to our research. We study the pathogenesis of cognitive dysfunction, depression, and sleep deficits — identifying new targets such as glutaminase inhibitors and nSMase2 inhibition.
Genetic Factors & Neurodevelopment
Our lab examines how genetic predisposition and environmental exposures — including adolescent cannabis use and chronic stress — synergistically impair cognition and neurodevelopment through convergent inflammatory signaling pathways.
Complementary & Integrative Medicine
Drawing on traditional Chinese medicine-based compounds and integrative approaches, we identify novel diagnostics and pharmacological agents with potential for neuropsychiatric and inflammatory conditions.
Research overview
Watch: Our research explained
Selected publications
Selected publications
Li Y, Sakamoto S, Smith MD, et al., Zhu X. Sex-specific gut mycobiome dysbiosis activates macrophage dectin-1 signaling to drive neurobehavioral deficits in EcoHIV-infected mice.
Loganathan S, Sun M, Lopez CA, et al., Zhu X, Smith D, Brown A. Osteopontin knockdown reverses HIV-induced cognitive deficits and influences motivation-related behavior.
Huang M, Li Y, Thomas AG, et al., Zhu X. Inhibition of microglial glutaminase alleviates chronic stress-induced neurobehavioral and cognitive deficits.
Li Y, Huang M, Cardinale S, et al., Zhu X. Dectin-1 as a therapeutic target for inflammatory bowel disease.
Hasegawa Y, Kim J, Ursini G, Jouroukhin Y, Zhu X, et al., Kamiya A. Microglial cannabinoid receptor type 1 mediates social memory deficits in mice produced by adolescent THC exposure and 16p11.2 duplication.
Zhu X, Sakamoto S, Ishii C, et al., Kamiya A. Dectin-1 signaling on colonic γδ T cells promotes psychosocial stress responses.
Bell B, Hollinger K, Deme P, et al., Zhu X*, Slusher B*. Glutamine antagonist JHU083 improves psychosocial behavior and sleep deficits in EcoHIV-infected mice.
Zhu X, Hollinger KR, Huang Y, et al., Slusher BS. Neutral sphingomyelinase 2 inhibition attenuates extracellular vesicle release and improves neurobehavioral deficits in murine HIV.
Jouroukhin Y*, Zhu X*, et al., Kamiya A, Pletnikov MV. Adolescent Δ9-THC exposure and astrocyte-specific genetic vulnerability converge on NF-κB-COX-2 signaling to impair memory in adulthood.
Zhu X, Nedelcovych M, Thomas A, et al., Kamiya A. JHU-083 selectively blocks glutaminase activity in brain CD11b+ cells and prevents depression-associated behaviors induced by chronic social defeat stress.