Cell & Developmental Biology
Open Access

Zhe Han

Biography

Dr. Zhe Han received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in the Rolf Bodmer lab where the fly heat was first established as a model for heart development and diseases. He then did his postdoc training at the UT Southwestern Medical center in the lab of Dr. Eric Olson, a pioneer for mammalian heart and muscle development. He established his own lab in the University of Michigan in 2006 and focused on the genetic control of Drosophila heart development. Dr. Han has published many high impact papers in the heart development field in journals like Science, PNAS and Development, and received multiple awards from the American Heart Association (AHA). The research of Dr. Han’s lab is funded by the NIH and the AHA. Dr. Han’s lab recently developed a genetic screen system for genes involved in renal functions in fly and established the fly as a new model for kidney diseases.

Research Interest

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are leading causes of birth defects in the world. Understanding the genetic control of heart development is the foundation for better understanding the disease mechanism of CHD.