Join our team!
We are actively seeking talented scientists at all levels who are passionate about pushing the boundaries of enteric neuron research!

Welcome to Mengmeng, our first postdoc!
We are very excited to welcome Dr. Mengmeng Cui as the first postdoctoral fellow in the Zhang Lab. Dr. Cui earned her Ph.D. from the Pasteur Institute at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her expertise in inflammation, infection, and single-cell RNA sequencing will be a tremendous addition to our team. We look forward to working with her to advance our research on enteric neuron–immune interactions.

Welcome to Rachel Xu, our first visiting scholar from Hongkong!
Shujun Xu is a Ph.D. candidate at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research focuses on gut microbiota–derived metabolites and their roles in regulating gastrointestinal physiology and disease. She has extensive experience in microbiota analysis, metabolomics, and animal models, with particular interest in serotonin-related pathways in gut disorders. Shujun’s work has been published in leading journals, including a first-author paper in Cell Host & Microbe. She has presented her research at international conferences, including DDW and Cold Spring Harbor Asia.

Welcome to Isabelle Hwang and Heemin Lee, our first SURP students!
2026 MUSC SURP Program

Both raised in California, Isabelle and Heemin like to eat all-you-can-eat sushi! Besides that, you can find them in the lab counting citrobacter colonies or massaging mice to induce fecal production!

As students at The University of Rochester and UC San Diego, they are the lab’s first ever undergraduates!