Zhang Lab

Decoding how microbiomes regulate
host physiology, aging, and resilience.

People

Meet the members driving discovery in the lab.

Publications

Explore our latest work published in leading journals in biology and genetics.

News

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Fluorescent GFP reporters visualizing insulin-like peptide expression in C. elegans
Endocrine Signaling

Fluorescent GFP reporters (green) visualize the expression of insulin-like peptides in living C. elegans. These reporter strains allow us to monitor how bacterial communities influence endocrine signaling at cellular resolution.

High-resolution imaging of mitochondria in C. elegans
Aging & Metabolism

High-resolution imaging of mitochondria in C. elegans allows us to investigate how environmental stress and microbial communities impact organelle integrity, metabolism, and the aging process.

Our approach

We integrate worm genetics, defined microbiome communities, microscopy, functional genomics, metabolomics, and machine learning to discover principles of host–microbe interaction that can generalize across animals.

Current projects span insulin-like peptide regulation, microbiome selection, and the biological consequences of environmentally persistent free radicals.

Opportunities

We welcome motivated graduate students, postdoc, and undergraduates interested in microbiology, genetics, data science, and environmental health.

See current opportunities →