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Understanding Social Impairment in Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Investigating the neural mechanisms underlying social behavior and their dysfunction in neuropsychiatric conditions

Research Focus

Neural Circuits

Mapping the neural circuits that control social behavior and emotional processing

Social Behavior

Understanding how social impairments manifest in various neuropsychiatric disorders

Molecular Mechanisms

Investigating molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying social dysfunction

Therapeutic Targets

Identifying novel therapeutic targets for treating social impairments

Selected Publications

Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents

W Sun, GW Zhang, JJ Huang, C Tao, MB Seo, HW Tao, LI Zhang

Science 387 (6736), eadq2677, 2025

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Excitation-inhibition imbalance in medial preoptic area circuits underlies chronic stress-induced depression-like states

C Tao, GW Zhang, WJ Sun, JJ Huang, LI Zhang, HW Tao

Nature Communications 15 (1), 8575, 2024

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The medial preoptic area mediates depressive-like behaviors induced by ovarian hormone withdrawal through distinct GABAergic projections

C Tao, GW Zhang, JJ Huang, Z Li, HW Tao, LI Zhang

Nature Neuroscience 26 (9), 1529-1540, 2023

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Medial preoptic area antagonistically mediates stress-induced anxiety and parental behavior

GW Zhang, L Shen, C Tao, AH Jung, B Peng, Z Li, LI Zhang, HW Tao

Nature Neuroscience 24 (4), 516-528, 2021

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Transforming sensory cues into aversive emotion via septal-habenular pathway

GW Zhang, L Shen, C Tao, AH Jung, B Peng, Z Li, LI Zhang, HW Tao

Neuron 99 (5), 1016-1028.e5, 2018

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A non-canonical reticular-limbic central auditory pathway via medial septum contributes to fear conditioning

GW Zhang, WJ Sun, B Zingg, L Shen, J He, Y Xiong, HW Tao, LI Zhang

Neuron 97 (2), 406-417.e4, 2018

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Our Team

We have a diverse team of researchers working on understanding neural mechanisms of social behavior

Meet Our Team

Contact Us

Email

guangwei.zhang@vcuhealth.org

Address

Virginia Commonwealth University
Department of Neuroscience and Anatomy
1101 E Marshall St
Sanger Hall, Room 9-060
Richmond, VA 23298