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Department of Neurological Sciences
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About Us
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Meet Our Faculty
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Peng Zhong, PhD
Peng Zhong, PhD
Assistant Professor, Systems Neuroscience, UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences
Education
- Florida State University, MS, Biomedical Engineering (2008)
- Medical College of Wisconsin, PhD, Biomedical Sciences (2015)
Interests
My research aims to unravel the neural underpinnings of causal relationship between sleep disturbance and neurodegenerative disorders with the ultimate goal of learning how to repair the diseased nervous systems. Taking advantage of multiple state-of-the-art techniques (e.g., gene profiling, virus-mediated circuit tracing, in vivo calcium imaging/optrode recording, ex vivo patch clamp recording, optogenetic/chemogenetic manipulation and gene manipulation), we take a multifaceted but integrated experimental approach for interrogating the neural circuits controlling sleep and studying the pathophysiology of sleep circuits in the generation of sleep disorders and neuropsychiatric/neurodegenerative disorders.
Memberships
- Sleep Research Society
- Society for Neuroscience
Zhong's Lab
Insufficient sleep can have devastating health consequences. Disrupted sleep is a common symptom in multiple neuropsychiatric illness, including anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. It is also comorbid with Alzheimer’s disease, and sleep disruption thought to contribute to disease progression. Dr. Zhong's research program aims to unravel the neural underpinnings of causal relationship between sleep disturbance and these brain disorders with the ultimate goal of learning how to repair the diseased nervous systems.