Xiaoling Zhang MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Biomedical Genetics
Associate Professor, Biostatistics
72 East Concord Street | (617) 358-3580zhangxl@bu.edu
Sections
Biomedical Genetics
Centers
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
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.
Other Positions
Websites
Education
Medicine, MD, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine
Health Administration/Informatics, PhD, Boston University
Computer Science, MS, State University of New York at Buffalo
Publications
Bellenguez C, Küçükali F, Jansen IE, Kleineidam L, Moreno-Grau S, Amin N, Naj AC, Campos-Martin R, Grenier-Boley B, Andrade V, Holmans PA, Boland A, Damotte V, van der Lee SJ, Costa MR, Kuulasmaa T, Yang Q, de Rojas I, Bis JC, Yaqub A, Prokic I, Chapuis J, Ahmad S, Giedraitis V, Aarsland D, Garcia-Gonzalez P, Abdelnour C, Alarcón-Martín E, Alcolea D, Alegret M, Alvarez I, Álvarez V, Armstrong NJ, Tsolaki A, Antúnez C, Appollonio I, Arcaro M, Archetti S, Pastor AA, Arosio B, Athanasiu L, Bailly H, Banaj N, Baquero M, Barral S, Beiser A, Pastor AB, Below JE, Benchek P, Benussi L, Berr C, Besse C, Bessi V, Binetti G, Bizarro A, Blesa R, Boada M, Boerwinkle E, Borroni B, Boschi S, Bossù P, Bråthen G, Bressler J, Bresner C, Brodaty H, Brookes KJ, Brusco LI, Buiza-Rueda D, Bûrger K, Burholt V, Bush WS, Calero M, Cantwell LB, Chene G, Chung J, Cuccaro ML, Carracedo Á, Cecchetti R, Cervera-Carles L, Charbonnier C, Chen HH, Chillotti C, Ciccone S, Claassen JAHR, Clark C, Conti E, Corma-Gómez A, Costantini E, Custodero C, Daian D, Dalmasso MC, Daniele A, Dardiotis E, Dartigues JF, de Deyn PP, de Paiva Lopes K, de Witte LD, Debette S, Deckert J, Del Ser T, Denning N, DeStefano A, Dichgans M, Diehl-Schmid J, Diez-Fairen M, Rossi PD, Djurovic S, Duron E, Düzel E, Dufouil C, Eiriksdottir G, Engelborghs S, Escott-Price V, Espinosa A, Ewers M, Faber KM, Fabrizio T, Nielsen SF, Fardo DW, Farotti L, Fenoglio C, Fernández-Fuertes M, Ferrari R, Ferreira CB, Ferri E, Fin B, Fischer P, Fladby T, Fließbach K, Fongang B, Fornage M, Fortea J, Foroud TM, Fostinelli S, Fox NC, Franco-Macías E, Bullido MJ, Frank-García A, Froelich L, Fulton-Howard B, Galimberti D, García-Alberca JM, García-González P, Garcia-Madrona S, Garcia-Ribas G, Ghidoni R, Giegling I, Giorgio G, Goate AM, Goldhardt O, Gomez-Fonseca D, González-Pérez A, Graff C, Grande G, Green E, Grimmer T, Grünblatt E, Grunin M, Gudnason V, Guetta-Baranes T, Haapasalo A, Hadjigeorgiou G, Haines JL, Hamilton-Nelson KL, Hampel H, Hanon O, Hardy J, Hartmann AM, Hausner L, Harwood J, Heilmann-Heimbach S, Helisalmi S, Heneka MT, Hernández I, Herrmann MJ, Hoffmann P, Holmes C, Holstege H, Vilas RH, Hulsman M, Humphrey J, Biessels GJ, Jian X, Johansson C, Jun GR, Kastumata Y, Kauwe J, Kehoe PG, Kilander L, Ståhlbom AK, Kivipelto M, Koivisto A, Kornhuber J, Kosmidis MH, Kukull WA, Kuksa PP, Kunkle BW, Kuzma AB, Lage C, Laukka EJ, Launer L, Lauria A, Lee CY, Lehtisalo J, Lerch O, Lleó A, Longstreth W, Lopez O, de Munain AL, Love S, Löwemark M, Luckcuck L, Lunetta KL, Ma Y, Macías J, MacLeod CA, Maier W, Mangialasche F, Spallazzi M, Marquié M, Marshall R, Martin ER, Montes AM, Rodríguez CM, Masullo C, Mayeux R, Mead S, Mecocci P, Medina M, Meggy A, Mehrabian S, Mendoza S, Menéndez-González M, Mir P, Moebus S, Mol M, Molina-Porcel L, Montrreal L, Morelli L, Moreno F, Morgan K, Mosley T, Nöthen MM, Muchnik C, Mukherjee S, Nacmias B, Ngandu T, Nicolas G, Nordestgaard BG, Olaso R, Orellana A, Orsini M, Ortega G, Padovani A, Paolo C, Papenberg G, Parnetti L, Pasquier F, Pastor P, Peloso G, Pérez-Cordón A, Pérez-Tur J, Pericard P, Peters O, Pijnenburg YAL, Pineda JA, Piñol-Ripoll G, Pisanu C, Polak T, Popp J, Posthuma D, Priller J, Puerta R, Quenez O, Quintela I, Thomassen JQ, Rábano A, Rainero I, Rajabli F, Ramakers I, Real LM, Reinders MJT, Reitz C, Reyes-Dumeyer D, Ridge P, Riedel-Heller S, Riederer P, Roberto N, Rodriguez-Rodriguez E, Rongve A, Allende IR, Rosende-Roca M, Royo JL, Rubino E, Rujescu D, Sáez ME, Sakka P, Saltvedt I, Sanabria Á, Sánchez-Arjona MB, Sanchez-Garcia F, Juan PS, Sánchez-Valle R, Sando SB, Sarnowski C, Satizabal CL, Scamosci M, Scarmeas N, Scarpini E, Scheltens P, Scherbaum N, Scherer M, Schmid M, Schneider A, Schott JM, Selbæk G, Seripa D, Serrano M, Sha J, Shadrin AA, Skrobot O, Slifer S, Snijders GJL, Soininen H, Solfrizzi V, Solomon A, Song Y, Sorbi S, Sotolongo-Grau O, Spalletta G, Spottke A, Squassina A, Stordal E, Tartan JP, Tárraga L, Tesí N, Thalamuthu A, Thomas T, et al. New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Nat Genet. 2022 Apr; 54(4):412-436. PMID: 35379992.
Published on 3/31/2022Castaneda AB, Petty LE, Scholz M, Jansen R, Weiss S, Zhang X, Schramm K, Beutner F, Kirsten H, Schminke U, Hwang SJ, Marzi C, Dhana K, Seldenrijk A, Krohn K, Homuth G, Wolf P, Peters MJ, Dörr M, Peters A, van Meurs JBJ, Uitterlinden AG, Kavousi M, Levy D, Herder C, van Grootheest G, Waldenberger M, Meisinger C, Rathmann W, Thiery J, Polak J, Koenig W, Seissler J, Bis JC, Franceshini N, Giambartolomei C, Hofman A, Franco OH, Penninx BWJH, Prokisch H, Völzke H, Loeffler M, O'Donnell CJ, Below JE, Dehghan A, de Vries PS. Associations of carotid intima media thickness with gene expression in whole blood and genetically predicted gene expression across 48 tissues. Hum Mol Genet. 2022 Mar 31; 31(7):1171-1182. PMID: 34788810.
Published on 3/23/2022Zhang X, Tong T, Chang A, Ang TFA, Tao Q, Auerbach S, Devine S, Qiu WQ, Mez J, Massaro J, Lunetta KL, Au R, Farrer LA. Midlife lipid and glucose levels are associated with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement. 2023 Jan; 19(1):181-193. PMID: 35319157.
Published on 10/23/2021Zhang Z, Na H, Gan Q, Tao Q, Alekseyev Y, Hu J, Yan Z, Yang JB, Tian H, Zhu S, Li Q, Rajab IM, Blusztajn JK, Wolozin B, Emili A, Zhang X, Stein T, Potempa LA, Qiu WQ. Monomeric C-reactive protein via endothelial CD31 for neurovascular inflammation in an ApoE genotype-dependent pattern: A risk factor for Alzheimer's disease? Aging Cell. 2021 11; 20(11):e13501. PMID: 34687487.
Published on 9/20/2021Tao Q, Alvin Ang TF, Akhter-Khan SC, Itchapurapu IS, Killiany R, Zhang X, Budson AE, Turk KW, Goldstein L, Mez J, Alosco ML, Qiu WQ. Impact of C-Reactive Protein on Cognition and Alzheimer Disease Biomarkers in Homozygous APOE ?4 Carriers. Neurology. 2021 Sep 20; 97(12):e1243-e1252. PMID: 34266923.
Published on 6/20/2021Zhang X, Farrell JJ, Tong T, Hu J, Zhu C, Wang LS, Mayeux R, Haines JL, Pericak-Vance MA, Schellenberg GD, Lunetta KL, Farrer LA. Association of mitochondrial variants and haplogroups identified by whole exome sequencing with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimers Dement. 2022 02; 18(2):294-306. PMID: 34152079.
Published on 4/27/2021Patel D, Zhang X, Farrell JJ, Chung J, Stein TD, Lunetta KL, Farrer LA. Cell-type-specific expression quantitative trait loci associated with Alzheimer disease in blood and brain tissue. Transl Psychiatry. 2021 04 27; 11(1):250. PMID: 33907181.
Published on 3/15/2021Patel D, Zhang X, Farrell JJ, Lunetta KL, Farrer LA. Set-Based Rare Variant Expression Quantitative Trait Loci in Blood and Brain from Alzheimer Disease Study Participants. Genes (Basel). 2021 03 15; 12(3). PMID: 33804025.
Published on 2/10/2021Zhang X, van Rooij JGJ, Wakabayashi Y, Hwang SJ, Yang Y, Ghanbari M, Bos D, Levy D, Johnson AD, van Meurs JBJ, Kavousi M, Zhu J, O'Donnell CJ. Genome-wide transcriptome study using deep RNA sequencing for myocardial infarction and coronary artery calcification. BMC Med Genomics. 2021 02 10; 14(1):45. PMID: 33568140.
Published on 10/28/2019Malhotra R, Mauer AC, Lino Cardenas CL, Guo X, Yao J, Zhang X, Wunderer F, Smith AV, Wong Q, Pechlivanis S, Hwang SJ, Wang J, Lu L, Nicholson CJ, Shelton G, Buswell MD, Barnes HJ, Sigurslid HH, Slocum C, Rourke CO, Rhee DK, Bagchi A, Nigwekar SU, Buys ES, Campbell CY, Harris T, Budoff M, Criqui MH, Rotter JI, Johnson AD, Song C, Franceschini N, Debette S, Hoffmann U, Kälsch H, Nöthen MM, Sigurdsson S, Freedman BI, Bowden DW, Jöckel KH, Moebus S, Erbel R, Feitosa MF, Gudnason V, Thanassoulis G, Zapol WM, Lindsay ME, Bloch DB, Post WS, O'Donnell CJ. HDAC9 is implicated in atherosclerotic aortic calcification and affects vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype. Nat Genet. 2019 11; 51(11):1580-1587. PMID: 31659325.
Media Mentions
Published on 4/5/2022
Young Adults With High Blood Sugar and Low HDL Have Increased Alzheimer’s Risk
Published on 3/31/2022
These Three Health Indicators at 35 Are Linked to Your Risk of Dementia
Published on 3/29/2022
Risk of Alzheimer's linked to cholesterol, blood sugar levels at age 35
Published on 3/25/2022
Blood Profile at Age 35 Linked to Subsequent Alzheimer's Dementia
Published on 3/23/2022
View full list of 5 media mentions.