Research/Areas of Interest
Impact of nutritional supplements on the aging brain, especially in maintaining mobility and cognitive functions and preventing age-related neurological diseases
Education
- PhD, Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee, Memphis
Biography
Dr. Tong Zheng, PhD, is a Research Scientist I in the Diet & Aging Brain, Sensory Systems directive at the HNRCA. Her research focuses on factors that can regulate adult neurogenesis and neuroinflammation that may in turn help prevent or delay cognitive aging and neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Zheng uses a combination of various in vitro cell culture models and in vivo animal models to study how aging, cellular stress, neurodegeneration, and dietary factors interact to modulate hippocampal neurogenesis, neuroinflammation and cognitive functions.
Dr. Zheng has a broad background in the generation and characterization of postnatal and adult neural stem cells, including human induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells have potential applications in therapeutics and in developing reliable in vitro and in vivo models of neurogenesis for testing the role of nutritional supplements in maintaining brain health and preventing age-related neurological diseases.
Dr. Zheng has authored over 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters. She received the Rehabilitation Research Associate Investigator Award from the Brain Rehabilitation Research Center in Gainesville, Florida. Dr. Zheng is a member of the Society for Neuroscience and the American Society for Nutrition.