Circadian clocks drive daily rhythms in sleep-wake cycle, metabolism, behavior and other physiological processes. Disruption of

circadian rhythms are related with sleep and mood disorders, metabolic syndromes, neurodegenerative diseases and even cancer. Our

lab uses fruit fly and mice as model organisms to attack three main questions: How do environmental cues entrain the circadian clock

and synchronize body rhythms? How does the molecular clock oscillate around 24 hours? Why disruption of circadian clocks cause

sleep and metabolic disorders?

Selected Publications

1. Liu X*., Huang Y*., Fang JJ., He X., Zhou Y., Luan W., Liu X., Zhang Y*. (2025) RTF1 enhanced CLK occupancy and histone methylation at key circadian clock pacemaker gene loci. J Cell Biol, 224(12): 10.1083/jcb.202501221

2. Liu X*., Fang JJ*., Cheng DW., Luan W., Lv Y., Hu W., Pan., Zhang Y*. (2025) The circadian transcription factor CLOCK modulates oxidative stress resistance via the ACHL-Relish axis in Drosophila. Adv Sci, e14388. doi: 10.1002/advs.202514388.

3. Hui C*., Zhang Y*., Ouyang JQ. (2025) Birds of a feather flock together: sociak context exacerbates the effects of light pollution on circadian disruption. Proc. R. Soc. B, 292:20250724

4. Zhang C., Wang ZH., … Jia ZH*., Zhang Y*. (2024) Akkermansia muciniphila administration ameliorates streptozotocin-induced hyperglycemia and muscle atrophy by promoting IGF2 secretion from mouse intestine. iMeta, 3(5):e237. doi: 10.1002/imt2.237

5. Tang JL., Ma YE., Li ML., … Zhang Y*., Jia ZH*., Feng Y*. (2024) FADD regulates adipose inflammation, adipogenesis, and adipocyte survival. Cell Death Discov, 10:323.

6. Xue YB., Chiu JC., Zhang Y*. (2019) SUR-8 interacts with PP1-87B to stabilize PERIOD and regulate circadian rhythms in Drosophila. PLoS Genetics 15 (11), e1008475.

7. Liu Z., Tabuloc CA., Xue Y., … Zhang Y*. (2019) Splice variants of DOMINO control Drosophila circadian behavior and pacemaker neuron maintenance. PLoS Genetics 15 (10), e1008474.

8. Niu Y., Liu ZX., Nian XG., X XH., Zhang Y*. (2019) miR-210 controls the evening phase of circadian locomotor rhythms through repression of Fasciclin 2. PLoS Genetics 15 (7), e1007655.

9. Chen, WF., Werdann, M., Zhang, Y*. (2018) The auxin-inducible degradation system enables conditional PERIOD protein depletion in the nervous system of Drosophila melanogaster. FEBS Journal, 285:4378-4393.

10. Zhang Y*., Lamba P., Guo PY., Emery P*. (2016) miR-124 regulates the phase of Drosophila circadian locomotor behavior. The Journal of Neurosci, 36(6): 2007-2013. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3286-15.2016. 

11. Lamba P., Bilodeau-Wentworth D., Emery P*., Zhang Y*. (2014) Morning and evening oscillators cooperate to reset circadian behavior in response to light input. Cell Reports, 7(3): 601-8. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.03.044. 

13. Zhang Y. and Emery P*. (2013) GW182 controls Drosophila circadian behavior and PDF-Receptor signaling. Neuron, 78(1):152-165.

14. Zhang Y^#., Ling J.L^#., Yuan C.Y., Dubruille R., Emery P*. (2013) A role for Drosophila ATX2 in activation of PER translation and circadian behavior. Science, 340:879-882.

15. Zhang Y., Liu YX., Wentworth DB., Hardin PE., Emery P*. (2010) Light and temperature control the contribution of specific DN1 neurons to Drosophila circadian behaviour. Curr Biol, 20,600-605.

Reviews and Book Chapters:

1. Werdann, M., and Zhang, Y (2020) Circadian rhythm and neurodegenerative disorders. Brain Science Advances. 6(2):71-80

2. Xue, Y., and Zhang, Y (2018) Emerging roles for microRNA in the regulation of Drosophila circadian clock. BMC Neurosci. 19(1)

3. Zhang, Y., … Yan W (2016) Fat dad, fat kids: sperm small RNAs in control! Science Bulletin 61-428-429

4. Zhang, Y., and Emery, P (2012)  Molecular and neural control of insect circadian rhythms.  Insect molecular biology and biochemistry. 513–551, Academic Press

参编中文教材及科普书:

Current Post-Graduate students’ Mentorship:

Mengmeng REN, Guangmei JI, Wei LUAN, Xiaoyu WANG, Xianli HE, Yue ZHOU, Huihui HUANG, Hanyue WU, Shuya CHEN