Xiaohui Zha
Ph.D.
Senior Scientist, Inflammation and Chronic Disease
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Professor, Department of Medicine & Department of Biochemistry
Microbiology and Immunology
Bio
Dr. Zha earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University, where she specialized in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). She completed her postdoctoral training in cell biology at Columbia University with Dr. Fred Maxfield, applying advanced fluorescence microscopy to investigate cellular membrane dynamics. During this time, she developed a lasting interest in cholesterol biology—specifically, how cholesterol dysregulation contributes to human disease.
Her research program seeks to uncover the fundamental roles of cholesterol: what it does, why it is unique to animals, and how its imbalance underlies a range of modern health disorders. Emerging findings suggest that cholesterol functions as an environmental factor that shapes immune responses, highlighting the importance of maintaining low plasma cholesterol to protect against acute infections.
More recently, Dr. Zha has focused on macrophages, examining how cholesterol influences their inflammatory responses through epigenetic reprogramming. Using genomic tools such as ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, and ATAC-seq, her team is identifying cholesterol-regulated epigenetic pathways that drive macrophage plasticity and immune polarization.
Research Goals and Interests
News
Publications
Salloum, Z., Dauner, K., Li, Y. F., Verma, N., Valdivieso-González, D., Almendro-Vedia, V., Zhang, J. D., Nakka, K., Chen, M. X., McDonald, J., Corley, C. D., Sorisky, A., Song, B. L., López-Montero, I., Luo, J., Dilworth, J. F., & Zha, X. (2024). Statin-mediated reduction in mitochondrial cholesterol primes an anti-inflammatory response in macrophages by upregulating Jmjd3. eLife, 13, e85964. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.85964
Go to publicationNakka, K., Hachmer, S., Mokhtari, Z., Kovac, R., Bandukwala, H., Bernard, C., Li, Y., Xie, G., Liu, C., Fallahi, M., Megeney, L. A., Gondin, J., Chazaud, B., Brand, M., Zha, X., Ge, K., & Dilworth, F. J. (2022). JMJD3 activated hyaluronan synthesis drives muscle regeneration in an inflammatory environment. Science (New York, N.Y.), 377(6606), 666–669. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm9735
Go to publicationSingh, R. K., Haka, A. S., Bhardwaj, P., Zha, X., & Maxfield, F. R. (2019). Dynamic Actin Reorganization and Vav/Cdc42-Dependent Actin Polymerization Promote Macrophage Aggregated LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) Uptake and Catabolism. Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology, 39(2), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.118.312087
Go to publicationCourtney, K. C., Fung, K. Y., Maxfield, F. R., Fairn, G. D., & Zha, X. (2018). Comment on 'Orthogonal lipid sensors identify transbilayer asymmetry of plasma membrane cholesterol'. eLife, 7, e38493.
Go to publicationCourtney, K. C., Pezeshkian, W., Raghupathy, R., Zhang, C., Darbyson, A., Ipsen, J. H., Ford, D. A., Khandelia, H., Presley, J. F., & Zha, X. (2018). C24 Sphingolipids Govern the Transbilayer Asymmetry of Cholesterol and Lateral Organization of Model and Live-Cell Plasma Membranes. Cell reports, 24(4), 1037–1049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.06.104
Go to publicationEid, W., Dauner, K., Courtney, K. C., Gagnon, A., Parks, R. J., Sorisky, A., & Zha, X. (2017). mTORC1 activates SREBP-2 by suppressing cholesterol trafficking to lysosomes in mammalian cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(30), 7999–8004. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1705304114
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