Hang Zhou, PhD
Associate Research Scientist in Psychiatry
Research & Publications
Biography
News
Research Summary
My primary research interest is identifying novel genetic risks and exploring the biological etiology for psychiatric diseases and comorbidities.
Extensive Research Description
I lead and participated in several innovative projects and got interesting findings: demonstrated the shared genetic susceptibility contributes to alcohol dependence (AD) and major depression (MD); detected the first gene for the AD-MD comorbidity by genome-wide association study (GWAS); accomplished the largest to date GWAS for alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder in the Million Veteran Program (MVP); detected a glutamate ionotropic receptor gene as risk for comorbid nicotine dependence and MD. My ongoing projects are focus on: 1). understanding the genetic etiology of opioid use disorder by analyzing MVP data; 2). large scale whole exome sequencing to identify genetic risks for comorbid MD and substance use; 3). shared and causal mechanism between alcohol consumption and MD; 4). causal relationship between alcohol consumption and cancers.
Coauthors
Research Interests
Alcoholism; Anxiety Disorders; Marijuana Abuse; Depressive Disorder, Major; Opioid-Related Disorders; Personality; Tobacco Use Disorder; Depression, Postpartum; Cocaine-Related Disorders; Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Binge Drinking
Selected Publications
- Genome-wide scan identifies opioid overdose risk locus close to MCOLN1.Cheng Z, Yang BZ, Zhou H, Nunez Y, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Genome-wide scan identifies opioid overdose risk locus close to MCOLN1. Addiction Biology 2020, 25:e12811.
- Reproducible Genetic Risk Loci for Anxiety: Results From ∼200,000 Participants in the Million Veteran Program.Levey DF, Gelernter J, Polimanti R, Zhou H, Cheng Z, Aslan M, Quaden R, Concato J, Radhakrishnan K, Bryois J, Sullivan PF, Stein MB. Reproducible Genetic Risk Loci for Anxiety: Results From ∼200,000 Participants in the Million Veteran Program. The American Journal Of Psychiatry 2020, 177:223-232.
- Functional connectome-wide associations of schizophrenia polygenic risk.Cao H, Zhou H, Cannon TD. Functional connectome-wide associations of schizophrenia polygenic risk. Molecular Psychiatry 2020.
- Genome-wide meta-analysis of problematic alcohol use in 435,563 individuals yields insights into biology and relationships with other traits.Zhou H, Sealock JM, Sanchez-Roige S, Clarke TK, Levey DF, Cheng Z, Li B, Polimanti R, Kember RL, Smith RV, Thygesen JH, Morgan MY, Atkinson SR, Thursz MR, Nyegaard M, Mattheisen M, Børglum AD, Johnson EC, Justice AC, Palmer AA, McQuillin A, Davis LK, Edenberg HJ, Agrawal A, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Genome-wide meta-analysis of problematic alcohol use in 435,563 individuals yields insights into biology and relationships with other traits. Nature Neuroscience 2020, 23:809-818.
- Association of OPRM1 Functional Coding Variant With Opioid Use Disorder: A Genome-Wide Association Study.Zhou H, Rentsch CT, Cheng Z, Kember RL, Nunez YZ, Sherva RM, Tate JP, Dao C, Xu K, Polimanti R, Farrer LA, Justice AC, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Association of OPRM1 Functional Coding Variant With Opioid Use Disorder: A Genome-Wide Association Study. JAMA Psychiatry 2020, 77:1072-1080.
- Genome-wide association study of smoking trajectory and meta-analysis of smoking status in 842,000 individuals.Xu K, Li B, McGinnis KA, Vickers-Smith R, Dao C, Sun N, Kember RL, Zhou H, Becker WC, Gelernter J, Kranzler HR, Zhao H, Justice AC. Genome-wide association study of smoking trajectory and meta-analysis of smoking status in 842,000 individuals. Nature Communications 2020, 11:5302.
- Genetic associations with suicide attempt severity and genetic overlap with major depression.Levey DF, Polimanti R, Cheng Z, Zhou H, Nuñez YZ, Jain S, He F, Sun X, Ursano RJ, Kessler RC, Smoller JW, Stein MB, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Genetic associations with suicide attempt severity and genetic overlap with major depression. Translational Psychiatry 2019, 9:22.
- Genome-wide association study of alcohol consumption and use disorder in 274,424 individuals from multiple populations.Kranzler HR, Zhou H, Kember RL, Vickers Smith R, Justice AC, Damrauer S, Tsao PS, Klarin D, Baras A, Reid J, Overton J, Rader DJ, Cheng Z, Tate JP, Becker WC, Concato J, Xu K, Polimanti R, Zhao H, Gelernter J. Genome-wide association study of alcohol consumption and use disorder in 274,424 individuals from multiple populations. Nature Communications 2019, 10:1499.
- Genome-wide association study of alcohol dependence in male Han Chinese and cross-ethnic polygenic risk score comparison.Sun Y, Chang S, Wang F, Sun H, Ni Z, Yue W, Zhou H, Gelernter J, Malison RT, Kalayasiri R, Wu P, Lu L, Shi J. Genome-wide association study of alcohol dependence in male Han Chinese and cross-ethnic polygenic risk score comparison. Translational Psychiatry 2019, 9:249.
- Genomewide Gene-by-Sex Interaction Scans Identify ADGRV1 for Sex Differences in Opioid Dependent African Americans.Yang BZ, Zhou H, Cheng Z, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Genomewide Gene-by-Sex Interaction Scans Identify ADGRV1 for Sex Differences in Opioid Dependent African Americans. Scientific Reports 2019, 9:18070.
- Genome-wide Association Study Identifies a Regulatory Variant of RGMA Associated With Opioid Dependence in European Americans.Cheng Z, Zhou H, Sherva R, Farrer LA, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Genome-wide Association Study Identifies a Regulatory Variant of RGMA Associated With Opioid Dependence in European Americans. Biological Psychiatry 2018, 84:762-770.
- Translational studies support a role for serotonin 2B receptor (HTR2B) gene in aggression-related cannabis response.Montalvo-Ortiz JL, Zhou H, D'Andrea I, Maroteaux L, Lori A, Smith A, Ressler KJ, Nuñez YZ, Farrer LA, Zhao H, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Translational studies support a role for serotonin 2B receptor (HTR2B) gene in aggression-related cannabis response. Molecular Psychiatry 2018, 23:2277-2286.
- Genome-wide association study identifies glutamate ionotropic receptor GRIA4 as a risk gene for comorbid nicotine dependence and major depression.Zhou H, Cheng Z, Bass N, Krystal JH, Farrer LA, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Genome-wide association study identifies glutamate ionotropic receptor GRIA4 as a risk gene for comorbid nicotine dependence and major depression. Translational Psychiatry 2018, 8:208.
- Polygenic Scores for Major Depressive Disorder and Risk of Alcohol Dependence.Andersen AM, Pietrzak RH, Kranzler HR, Ma L, Zhou H, Liu X, Kramer J, Kuperman S, Edenberg HJ, Nurnberger JI, Rice JP, Tischfield JA, Goate A, Foroud TM, Meyers JL, Porjesz B, Dick DM, Hesselbrock V, Boerwinkle E, Southwick SM, Krystal JH, Weissman MM, Levinson DF, Potash JB, Gelernter J, Han S. Polygenic Scores for Major Depressive Disorder and Risk of Alcohol Dependence. JAMA Psychiatry 2017, 74:1153-1160.
- Genetic Risk Variants Associated With Comorbid Alcohol Dependence and Major Depression.Zhou H, Polimanti R, Yang BZ, Wang Q, Han S, Sherva R, Nuñez YZ, Zhao H, Farrer LA, Kranzler HR, Gelernter J. Genetic Risk Variants Associated With Comorbid Alcohol Dependence and Major Depression. JAMA Psychiatry 2017, 74:1234-1241.
- The Impact of Removing Former Drinkers from Genome-wide Association Studies of AUDIT-C.Dao C, Zhou H, Small A, Gordon KS, Li B, Kember RL, Ye Y, Gelernter J, Xu K, Kranzler HR, Zhao H, Justice AC. The Impact of Removing Former Drinkers from Genome-wide Association Studies of AUDIT-C. Addiction (Abingdon, England) 2021.