----Neuropsychiatric Pharmacology

A. Introduction of the Team

This academic team is composed of senior professors and experts from the School of Basic Medicine and the School of Pharmacy in Tongji Medical College (TJMC) of Huazhong University of Science & Technology (HUST), most of them are specialized in Neuropsychiatric Pharmacology, committed to explore the pathogenesis of nervous diseases and the intervention strategy based on synaptic plasticity and ion channel. The team boasts notable advantages in depression and drug addiction research.

Team Leader: Prof. CHEN Jianguo

Prof. CHEN Jianguo acquired his master degree in former Tongji Medical University in 1990, then pursued his academic career as a visiting scholar at the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany from Nov. 1995 to Sept. 1996. In the following two years, he transferred to Heidelberg University and got his doctor degree there and did postdoctoral research program under Dr. Toshinori Hoshi at the University of Iowa in USA. Since 2002, he returned to China and worked at Tongji Medical College and later became the Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and now he is the Dean of TJMC and Vice-President of HUST.

In 2004 he was awarded as Distinguished Young Scientist by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); in 2007 he was endowed Distinguished Professor of Yangtze Program by Ministry of Education of China; in 2013 he was appointed to be the Chief Scientist by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program).

Team Members:

Prof. WANG Jianzhi, M.D., a prominent professor with outstanding accomplishment in neurology, pathophysiology and bio-neuropathology, Director of Pathophysiology Key Laboratory of Chinese Ministry of Education, focusing on Alzheimer disease including pathogenesis, early diagnosis and prevention; also interested in emotion and learning memory, neurodevelopment and neural circuitry. She was selected by the National Ten Thousand Talents Project, and awarded as Creative Team Leader for Neurological Disorders,  National Model Teacher for Education, National Prestigious Teacher Award for Teaching, Changjiang Distinguished Professor of Ministry of Education of China etc.

Prof. ZHANG Yonghui, Ph.D, Changjiang Scholars, full professor specialized in pharmaceutics, Dean of TJMC School of Pharmacy; serves as inter-discipline bridge between pharmacology and pharmaceutics in the team. Major research interests focus on Natural Medicinal Chemistry and Innovative Drugs Development.

Prof. Dr. WANG Fang, Ph.D in Pharmacology, full professor, research interests focus on neuropsychopharmacology, depressive disorders and drug addiction. Contact: http://english.tjmu.edu.cn/info/1027/1050.htm

Prof. LONG Lihong Ph.D in Pharmacology, full professor, chief member of the team, research interests focus on energy metabolism, mitochondria dysfunction, neuropsychological disease. Contact and detailed information: http://english.tjmu.edu.cn/info/1027/1132.htm

Prof. HU Zhuangli, Ph.D in Pharmacology, full professor, research interests focus on  ion channel; glial cells; mental disorder. Detialed information: http://english.tjmu.edu.cn/info/1028/1539.htm

Prof. WU Pengfei, Ph.D in Pharmacology, associate professor of TJMC, research interests focus on neuropsychopharmacology, redox biology and translational medicine. Detailed information: http://english.tjmu.edu.cn/info/1028/1099.htm

B. Main Research Areas

Neuropsychiatric pharmacology; ion channel and synaptic plasticity associated with cognitive and emotional disorders, the pathogenesis of above disorders; pharmaceutic intervention on the depression and drug addiction

C. Background & Significance

Depression is one of the most common neurological disorder which seriously affects the living quality of the patients and their folks. It’s predicted by WHO that depression will become one of the most fatal diseases by 2020, second to carcinoma. Drug addictions (such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine addiction) also induce serious social and public health hazards, with remarkable significance in our research on pharmaceutic intervention.

D. Achievement & Awards

The team has published 90+ papers in world-renowned SCI journals like Nature, Neuron, Nat Neurosci, Mol Psychiatry etc. with more than 2,900 times citations. Prof. CHEN Jianguo and his team members have been taking in charge of different scientific research projects at national or ministerial level, such as the Key Projects of Chinese National Science Fund (NSFC), “973 Program”, Medical Projects of NSFC for Distinguished Young Scholars, etc. The recent ongoing projects include: NSFC National Innovation Research Group Project 81721005 titled Neuropsychiatric Medications, 2018/01-2023/12, ￥10,5 million and NSFC General Program 81673414 titled The Role and Mechanism of Caspase-1 Mediated AMPA Receptor Shear and Dysfunction in Cocaine Addiction; 2017/01-2020/12，￥0.5 million.

As the Dean of Tongji Medical College and the Vice-President of HUST, Prof. Dr. Chen has remarkable reputation for his outstanding contribution to teaching and research in the medical field. Moreover, 2 of his team members were awarded the Prizes for Young Pharmacologists by Chinese Pharmacological Society.

Team Contact: Prof. WANG Fang, wangfangtj0322@163.com(e-mail)