Zhou, Chengwen, Department of Neurology

Chengwen Zhou, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Neurology
6136 Medical Research Building III
465 21st Avenue S
Nashville, Tennessee
615-936-5678 (office)
chengwen.zhou@vumc.org

Dr. Zhou’s interests in basic neuroscience and translational medicine focus upon how neuronal activity within the whole brain circuits (both cortical and subcortical circuits on microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic levels) interacts to generate collective/emerging brain functions such as memory consolidation and brain disorders such as seizures and cognitive co-morbidity deficits. Particularly he is working on how brain sleep-states intermingle with seizure onset. Using electrophysiological recordings, optogenetic methods, and transgenic mice with GABAergic receptor mutations, he studies intrinsic neuron activity properties, activity-dependent synaptic plasticity in cortical neurons from mouse models for pathogenesis of idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE), and explores how epilepsy disorders and memory deficits are generated/evolved. This will lead to developing novel medicines for treating seizures and other cognitive co-morbidities. Recently his research extends to sleep-related activity’s roles in pathophysiology and pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, using a homeostatic synaptic plasticity mechanism.

For more information, please visit the lab website.