Wandi Zhu

Research Description:

Each second, billions of electrical events occur in our body. These rapid signals, triggered by mechanical forces, propagation from neighboring cells, or biochemical cues, encode essential cellular functions while interacting with other processes, such as cell metabolism and gene transcription. The ability to decode these electrical signals presents immense opportunities for therapeutic targeting. Our lab studies electrical and mechanoelectrical signaling in both excitable (cardiac) and non-excitable (blood and endothelial) tissues to uncover their roles in health and disease. We aim to understand how modulating these signals can alter cell behaviors and potentially lead to treatments for a range of common diseases, including thrombosis, inflammatory diseases, and cardiac arrhythmias. To enhance the translational value of our work, we integrate human samples, genetics, and clinical data into our discovery framework. We further investigate detailed mechanisms using a combination of zebrafish models and tissue-on-a-chip systems, utilizing omics (spatial sequencing and metabolomics), imaging, and electrophysiology (patch clamp and optical mapping) techniques.