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Yiqiang Zhang, PhD

Yiqiang Zhang, PhD

Assistant Professor


Yiqiang Profile


  • Affiliation:
    Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology
    Center for Cardiovascular Research


  • Email: yiqiang.zhang@hawaii.edu

  • Phone: (808)692-1480

Short Bio

Dr. Zhang earned a B.Sc. in Biology (Zoology) and an M.Sc. in Physiology from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. He completed his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Montreal, Canada, in 2006, where his comprehensive research was focused on the cellular, molecular, and ionic mechanisms underlying diabetic arrhythmias. Supported by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Dr. Zhang completed postdoctoral training through the Cardiology Fellowship Program at Johns Hopkins Medicine, followed by further specialization at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. There, he concentrated on developmental cell biology, electrophysiology of stem cells and cardiomyocytes, and regenerative medicine. Dr. Zhang later held positions as a Staff Scientist (Functional Genomics) at the City of Hope National Medical Center and as an Acting Assistant Professor of Medicine and Senior Research Scientist at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Zhang joined our Department in 2020. He leads a translational cardiobiology laboratory dedicated to advancing cardiovascular and biomedical sciences, enhancing educational opportunities, and promoting community service. Dr. Zhang also teaches a range of courses across undergraduate, graduate, and medical education programs.

Graduate Faculty

Developmental and Reproductive Biology (DRB);
Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB)
https://jabsom.hawaii.edu/grad_drb/faculty/zhang.html

Research Interests

Dr. Zhang leads a multidisciplinary translational cardiobiology laboratory focusing on key research areas such as heart failure, diabetes, and arrhythmias. His team uses state-of-the-art transgenic and reporter cells and animal models that closely align with human health and disease. They also employ cutting-edge multi-omics and bioinformatics approaches, together with advanced cellular, molecular, and bioengineering technologies. Dr. Zhang and his team study cardiac and stem cell biology and heart regeneration, cardiac growth and disease mechanisms, cell cycle control, epigenetics and functional genomics, heart failure therapies, diabetic cardiocomplicaitons, and electrophysiology and arrhythmias (including high-throughput cellular electrophysiology), and inflammatory heart disorders. Their research leverages computational genomics/bioinformatics and advanced data analytics to uncover new therapeutic targets and delve into the mechanisms of cardiac health and disease.
Current projects in the lab aim to 1) unravel the roles of master transcription factors and DNA and histone epigenetic modifiers in cardiomyocyte cell cycle regulation and growth, 2) leverage big omics data repositories in genetic/functional genomics analyses coupled with stem cell models to understand cardiac development and congenital heart defects, and 3) examine molecular dynamics at the single-cell level in heart failure and inflammation. By gaining a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying cardiac development, disease processes, and heart regeneration, Dr. Zhang’s lab seeks to develop innovative and effective therapies for treating congestive and congenital heart diseases. Dr. Zhang’s work has been sponsored by American Heart Association, the NIH, and other funding agencies.

Selected Publications

Li N, Nguyen BT, Zhang Z, MacLellan WR, Zhang Y‡, Visualization of DNA methylation in cell cycle genes during iPSC cardiac differentiation. bioRxiv. 2024 Jan 19:2024.01.17.575536. PMID: 38293056; PMCID: PMC10827144

Zhang Z, Freeman M, Zhang Y, El-Nachef D, Davenport G, Williams A, MacLellan WR. Hippo signaling and histone methylation control cardiomyocyte cell cycle re-entry through distinct transcriptional pathways. PLoS One. 2023;18(2):e0281610. PubMed PMID: 36780463; PMCID: PMC9925018.

Nguyen TB, Lac Q, Abdi L, Banerjee D, Deng Y, Zhang Y‡. Harshening stem cell research and precision medicine: The states of human pluripotent cells stem cell repository diversity, and racial and sex differences in transcriptomes. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022;10:1071243. eCollection 2022. PubMed PMID: 36684445; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9848738.

Zhang Y‡, Gago-Lopez N, Li N, Zhang Z, Alver N, Liu Y, Martinson AM, Mehri A, MacLellan WR‡. Single-cell imaging and transcriptomic analyses of endogenous cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation and cycling. (Nature) Cell Discovery, 2019; 5: 30; June 4, 2019; PMCID: PMC6547664

El-Nachef D, Oyama K, Wu YY, Liu Y, Zhang Y, MacLellan WR. Repressive histone methylation regulates cardiac myocyte cell cycle exit. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2018; 121:1-12; PMID: 29800554

Chen X*, Chakravarty T*, Zhang Y*, Li X, Zhong JF, Wang C. Single-cell transcriptome and epigenomic reprogramming of cardiomyocyte-derived cardiac progenitor cells. (Nature) Scientific Data. 2016; 3: 160079. PMID: 27622691

Zhang Y‡, Zhong JF, Qiu H, MacLellan WR, Marban E, Wang C‡. Epigenomic reprogramming of adult cardiomyocyte-derived cardiac progenitor cells. (Nature) Sci. Rep. 2015; 5: 17686; PubMed PMID: 26657817

Zhang Y, Mignone J, MacLellan WR, Cardiac Regeneration and Stem Cells. Physiol. Rev. 2015; 95: 1189-204. PubMed PMID: 26269526

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Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography and Google Scholar:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/yiqiang.zhang.1/bibliography/public/;

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=LbgoRx0AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate