Hao Wang
University of Michigan, MI·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal and a public health concern worldwide. Exposure has been linked to problems with learning and memory and to neurodegenerative diseases in people.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Neuroscience
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
cadmium
heavy metals
neurotoxicity
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Track changes in the gut microbiome and microbial metabolites in mice as cadmium-induced learning and memory deficits begin.
- Test whether the gut microbiome is necessary for cadmium neurotoxicity by depleting it with antibiotics and measuring learning and memory in cadmium-exposed mice.
- Test whether a cadmium-altered microbiome alone causes memory deficits by transplanting gut contents from cadmium-exposed, memory-impaired mice into antibiotic-treated mice.
- Identify specific gut microbes and neuroactive microbial metabolites that contribute to cadmium's effects on learning and memory.
More about the research
The PI's earlier work found that environmentally relevant cadmium exposure impairs learning and memory in animals. However, it is still unclear how cadmium harms the brain. Gut bacteria are themselves damaged by cadmium. These bacteria also talk to the brain through the gut-brain axis, a communication pathway between the gut microbiome and the central nervous system. This project tests the hypothesis that the gut-brain axis helps cause cadmium's effects on the brain.
Why it matters
Many people are exposed to cadmium, which is linked to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease. Identifying the gut microbes and microbial metabolites that drive its brain effects could guide prevention and intervention strategies, such as reprogramming the gut microbiome. The findings could also clarify how other environmental neurotoxicants harm the brain.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Linnea Freeman
Furman University, SC·Neuroscience
Test whether disrupting the gut microbiome in adulthood increases hedonic feeding more in female than male rats, using a behavioral economics task with a high-fat, palatable reward.
Yanjiao Zhou
University of Connecticut, CT·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether senescent cells reshape the gut microbiome and its metabolites by transplanting or genetically clearing senescent cells in older male and female mice, using the p21-Cre mouse model.
Qingjie Li
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX·Physiology
Test whether transplanting a mouse's own banked youthful gut microbiome into mature adult mice delays physiological and molecular aging, combining heart, liver and cognitive function tests with organ transcriptomics and microbiome profiling.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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