利用在体多通道记录、膜片钳、行为学、形态学和生物化学等手段从整体、细胞、分子水平针对痛觉和痒觉以及相关睡眠和情感障碍的神经机制进行研究，取得数十项原创性的研究成果。在Nat Med, J Neurosci, Pain, J Invest Dermatol, Curr Biol, SMALL, eLife等国际权威杂志上发表近30余篇高水平SCI文章，他引总数迄今已超过2000次，其中单篇最高引用>600次，曾得到过Nat Med, Nat Rev Drug Discov等杂志正面评论、哈佛Focus及国内Bio-Art等多家媒体的采访报道。近年来参与了国家重点研发计划3项、主持国家自然科学基金4项、主持上海市科委及卫计委等项目5项。入选上海市“浦江人才”。培养多位活跃在临床与科研一线的硕、博士研究生和博士后。
近5年代表性文章：
Jia X, Li ZY, Shen XF, Zhang Y, Zhang L, Zhang L* High-intensity swimming alleviates nociception and neuroinflammation in a mouse model of chronic postischemia pain by activating the resolvin E1-chemerin receptor 23 axis in the spinal cord. Neural Regen Res, 2023. 18(11):2535-2542.
Zhu YB, Wang Y, Hua XX, Xu L, Liu MZ, Zhang R, Liu PF, Li JB, Zhang L*, Mu D*. PBN-PVT projections modulate negative affective states in mice. Elife. 2022;11.（Comment on：Chen G, Chen Z, Zhu Y. How the brain processes negative emotions. Elife. 2022;11）
Liu PF, Wang Y, Xu L, Xiang AF, Liu MZ, Zhu YB, Jia X, Zhang R, Li JB, Zhang L*, Mu D*. Modulation of itch and pain signals processing in ventrobasal thalamus by thalamic reticular nucleus. iScience. 2022;25(1):103625.
Liang Y#, Shi W#, Hu DD, Xiang AF, Zhang L* (2021) Protocol for Recording the Discharge of Locus Coeruleus Neurons in Free-moving Mice during Different Sleep-Wake Stages. STAR Protocol, Dec 10.
Feng Q,# Xu X#, Wei C, Li YZ, Wang M, Lv C, Wu J, Dai Y, Han Y, Lesniak M, Fan H, Zhang L*, Cheng Yu* （2021）The Dynamic Interactions between Nanoparticles and Macrophages Impact Their Fate in Brain Tumors. SMALL Oct 12;e2103600
Liang Y, Shi W, Xiang AF, Hu DD, Wang Lie-Cheng*, Zhang L*. (2021) The NAergic locus coeruleus-ventrolateral preoptic area neural circuit mediates rapid arousal from sleep. Current Biology, Jul 8;S0960-9822(21)00826-5.
Jia X, Dai MH, Ren AJ, Wang TT, Zhang WJ*, Zhang L*(2021). ZBTB20 in Nociceptive Neurons of the Trigeminal Ganglia Regulates Pruritus. Front Med (Lausanne), Mar 4;8:626554.
Wang TT, Xu XY, Lin W, Hu DD, Shi W, Jia X, Wang H, Song NJ, Zhang YQ, Zhang L*. Activation of Different Heterodimers of TLR2 Distinctly Mediates Pain and Itch. Neuroscience. 2020;429:245-255.Huang K#, Hu DD#, Bai D#, Wu ZY, Chen YY, Zhang YJ, Lv X, Wang QX*，Zhang L* (2018) Persistent ERK activation by the histamine H4 receptor in spinal neurons underlies chronic itch. J Invest Dermatol 138(8):1843-1850.
