Xiaoling Zhang, MD, PhD

Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Xiaoling Zhang is an Associate Professor of Medicine in Biomedical Genetics at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine . She seeks to discover genetic risk factors of complex human diseases, and further to identify their underlying functional mechanisms. She received her doctorate in Bioinformatics from Boston University and her Master's degree in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo. After being trained in epidemiology genetics and genomics at the NIH-NHLBI Framingham Heart Study, she is actively pursuing the driving force of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and its shared genetic structure and functional pathways with other diseases including cardiometabolic disorders and some type of cancers by integrating genome-wide DNA & RNA sequencing and a variety of functional genomic data.

Her primary research interests focus on: 1) develop methods for analyzing large-scale genetics and genomics data including microarray, genotype and next-generation sequencing data; 2) discover common, low-frequency and rare variants associated with complex diseases and their risk factors; 3) identify and prioritize putative causal genetic variants by integrative genomics study that involves combining biological information from a wide-range of data resources with eQTL analysis, pathway analysis and regulatory network analysis; and 4) translate the above computational findings to the molecular mechanisms underlying human genetic disorders by conducting experimental validation through collaborations.

Publications

  • Published 3/20/2026

    Khurshid Z, Tong T, Olayinka O, Farrell JJ, Zhu C, Martin ER, Bush WS, Pericak-Vance MA, Wang LS, Schellenberg GD, Haines JL, Lunetta KL, Zhang X, Farrer LA. Interactive effects of telomere length and genetic variants on Alzheimer disease risk across multiple ancestral populations. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2026 Mar 20; 18(1). PMID: 41857676.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/16/2026

    Huang J, Rehman H, Doan C, Stein TD, Mez J, Ang TFA, Tao Q, Au R, Farrer LA, Zhang X, Qiu WQ. Corrigendum to 'Circulating C-reactive protein influences polygenic risk of inflammatory genes expressed in brain endothelia for Alzheimer's disease' Neurobiology of Disease 219 (2026) Article Number 107257. Neurobiol Dis. 2026 May; 222:107348. PMID: 41846151.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/13/2026

    Huang J, Rehman H, Doan C, Stein TD, Mez J, Ang TFA, Tao Q, Au R, Farrer LA, Zhang X, Qiu WQ. Circulating C-reactive protein influences polygenic risk of inflammatory genes expressed in brain endothelia for Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiol Dis. 2026 Feb; 219:107257. PMID: 41539445.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/27/2025

    Olayinka OA, O'Neill N, Empawi JA, Bock P, Hu J, Rickner H, Wong M, Stein TD, Wolozin B, Farrer LA, Zhang X. Single nucleus RNA sequencing unveils relationship between microglia and endothelial cells in mixed Alzheimer's disease and vascular pathology. Neurobiol Dis. 2025 Nov; 216:107128. PMID: 41022229.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/27/2025

    Kurniansyah N, Tasaki S, Rehman H, Zhu C, Farrell J, Sherva R, Hauger R, Merritt VC, Panizzon M, Zhang R, Gaziano JM, Gim J, Lee K, Lee DY, Nho K, Vialle RA, Mukherjee S, Trittschuh EH, Lee AJ, Brickman AM, Cruchaga C, Risacher S, Greve DN, Crane P, Martin E, Bush W, Mayeux R, Haines JL, Pericak-Vance MA, Logue M, Bennett DA, Barnes LL, Saykin A, Hohman T, Wang LS, Schellenberg GC, Ang TFA, Au R, Mez J, Lunetta KL, Zhang X, Farrer LA. A multi-ancestry polygenic risk score for Alzheimer disease is associated with cognitive decline, hippocampal atrophy and neuropathological hallmarks in diverse populations. medRxiv. 2025 Sep 27. PMID: 41040715.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 78 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Associate Professor, Biostatistics
    Boston University School of Public Health
  • Associate Professor, Computing & Data Sciences
    Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
    Boston University

Websites

Education

  • Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, MD
  • Boston University, PhD
  • State University of New York at Buffalo, MS

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