People

Tumour Angiogenesis, Radiotracer Development, In vitro testing, Method Development

My research focuses on functional and structural plasticity with learning and rehabilitation in both humans and rodents.

I use behavioural training interventions and test how factors such as performance level or amount of practice influence brain changes at a functional, structural and neurochemical level in humans (fMRI, rs-fMRI, DTI and MR spectroscopy).

Additionally, I use real-time neurofeedback fMRI to test if endogenous brain activity modulation can lead to functional brain changes and behavioural improvements in healthy participants and chronic stroke survivors.

My preclinical work focuses on the underlying cellular mechanisms of brain plasticity, with a focus on white matter and myelination.

Retinal imaging, image processing, automated image analysis, machine learning, medical devices, ophthalmology, eye health care, eye diseases, systemic diseases apparent in the eye.

MSci with work placement in Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow

Neural stem cell therapy for stroke: A rodent based project to identify potential MRI indices of functional recovery

Stroke is leading cause of severe disability in adults. The clot-buster, Alteplase is the only licensed drug available to treat acute stroke patients however, this is only available to a small percentage of total sufferers and must be administered within the first 4.5 hours after the onset of the stoke. Although substantial research has been carried out to develop new therapies for acute brain damage and chronic disability, the translation from bench-to-bedside has proved to be a significant hurdle.

Many groups have focused on administering stem cells of patient-own or external origin to enhance brain repair. The use of  the conditionally immortalized human neural stem cell line CTX0E03 to treat sub-acute/chronic stroke is soon to enter Phase II clinical trials.

My project is an adjunct to existing pre-clinical work; aiming to understand  how the cells improve recovery using clinically applicable MRI methodologies.

I have successfully developed functional tests suitable of detecting long term functional changes post stroke. With the support of Dr Jozien Goense, we have set up resting-state fMRI in the anaesthetised rodent. With this technique at our disposal, we hope to identify indices of functional improvement in resting-state sensorimotor networks and values derived from the diffusion tensor, which may correlated with improved sensorimotor function.

This is a SPIRIT funded studentship; the stem cell technology, surgical equipment, training and a contribution of supervision for this project are supplied by industrial partner, ReNeuron ltd. (Guildford, UK).

I am a registered STEM ambassador and have participated in outreach events with EuroStemCell.

Zhihong's main research interests are in medical ultrasound and photonics, working closely with clinicians and industrial collaborators to maximise research impact and facilitate translation into practice. She utilises acoustics and optics as tools to understand and explore the mechanisms of tissue response, which in turn support new research initiatives on tissue characterization and interventional medical devices.

She leads a wide range of activities incorporating tissue mimicking phantom fabrication; mechanical, acoustic, thermal and optical characterization of tissue; 3D reconstruction of human anatomy and simulation, vibration analysis and robotics.

Uniquely, her group have developed a method to combine ultrasound and photonics to investigate the underlying, common physical mechanisms in three diverse areas: ultrasound and photonics instrumentation for ultrasonic surgical tool design and characterization; sono- and optical- elastography for medical diagnosis; and image guided and robotic assisted interventions.

Cancer research and development, drug discovery of antitumoral agents, targeted therapies, molecular imaging as innovative tool of diagnosis and treatment of brain tumours, medicinal chemistry of PARP inhibitors, radiochemistry, pre-clinical studies.

My major interest is the immune response in cardiovascular diseases. Current research activities address the study and imaging of cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis, neointimal formation and hypertension.

Immune responses play a key role in cardiovascular diseases. We have developed techniques to track antigen presenting cells and antigen presentation in the development of vascular immune response (ATVB 2012; Circulation 2014). We have been amongst the first to apply multiphoton microscopy in experimental atherosclerosis (Circulation 2007) and stroke (Stroke 2011) with the aim to define the kinetics and anatomical location of the T cell-antigen presenting cell interactions which underlie vascular immune response in real-time in vivo (Immunity 2015). We are currently developing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for multiplexing molecular imaging of vascular inflammation (Heart 2018). The overall hypothesis is that atherosclerosis is a vascular and not a systemic immune disease. As such, the ultimate goal is to develop new modalities for imaging vascular inflammation and deliver immuno-modulatory treatments directly to the vessel wall.