Xiang Zhang Lab

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About 

In 2006, in partnership with the UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center, the Department of Chemistry was awarded an NSF/EPSCoR Metabolomics Initiative Infrastructure Award (EPS-0447479) to establish a program for analytical metabolomics. Since its inception, this program has developed cutting-edge methodologies and approaches for emerging metabolomic and system biochemical research. 

CREAM has been providing fundamental research strength to the UofL biomedical research community and collaborative research groups outside of UofL in a broad array of research projects looking at pressing societal problems ranging from human health, biotechnology, to environmental pollution and ecosystem health. The expertise of faculty associated with the CREAM spans all aspects of biomedical sciences and metabolomics, integrating with the entire”-omics” community at the UofL. We represent several Departments on both the Belknap and Health Sciences Campuses of the University of Louisville. Recently, our lab started the method development for epitranscriptomics study and will apply these methods in the mechanism study of alcohol-associated liver disease. 

Mission: To advance biomedical and environmental research through innovative metabolomics and epitranscriptomics approaches. 

Vision: To become a global leader in systems biochemistry, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations for societal impact. 

Our Work

  • Untargeted metabolomics (Polar metabolite profiling)
  • Targeted metabolomics (Bile acids, Nucleosides, SCFAs, Caffeine derivatives, Tryptophan pathway metabolites)
  • Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics (13C-labeled, D-labeled)
  • Lipidomic (lipid profiling by comprehensive 2DLC-MS)
  • Epitranscriptomics (Oligonucleotides)
  • Bioinformatics (Python, MATLAB) 
  • Method development on RNA modification detection and quantification
  • Mechanism studies on alcohol-associated liver disease 
  • One Thermo Orbitrap Fusion Lumos Tribrid Mass Spectrometer coupled with a Vanquish Horizon 2D-UHPLC system
  • One Thermo Q Exactive HF Hybrid Quadrupole-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer coupled with an UltiMate 3000 HPLC system
  • One Waters Xevo TQ-S micro mass spectrometer coupled with an Acquity UPLC H-class system
  • Two LECO Pegasus III 4D GC×GC-TOF MS instruments equipped with Gerstel MPS2 autosamplers with the capability of online derivatization and solid-phase microextraction (SPME)
  • One Thermo GS-MS system equipped with 7820 GC with split/splitless, NIST 2012 MS library and AMDIS programs
  • One three-channel Unity Inova 500 MHz spectrometer complete with pulse field gradient capability, along with a 2-channel Varian Inova 500 MHz system dedicated to multinuclear NMR
  • One Varian 400MR NMR spectrometer complete with a robotic sample changer 

  • One Varian high field 700 MHz NMR spectrometer and cryoprobe 

  • One Varian 800 MHz Spectrometer operating at 18.8T (800 MHz for protons) equipped for solid-state (CP-MAS) NMR, including a 32 mm HCN MAS probe.
  • Bioinformatics pipelines for multi-omics data integration. 
  • Zhong, Y.; He, L.; Yin, X.; Mazik, L.; Zhang, X.; Guo, D. Stable 13C-glutamine Tracing Resolved Metabolomics for Cancer Metabolism Study. Bio-protocol, 2025, 15(10):e5322.
  • Feng, J.; He, L.; Ma, X.; Yin, X.; Zhou, Z.; Feng, W.; Mueller, E.; McClain, C. J.; Zhang, X. Comparison of Bile Acid Profiles in Chronic Alcohol Feeding and NIAAA Binge-on-Chronic Alcohol Feeding Mouse Models. J. Chroma. B, 2025, 1262:124650. (PMID: 40413821)
  • Su, H.; Zhong, Y.; He, L.; Geng, F.; Yin, X.; Kou, Y.; Chiang, C.Y.; Mo, X.; Fan, Y.; Liu, Y.; Wang, Q.; Magaki, S.; Cloughesy, T. F.; Lefai, E.; Yong, W. H.; Chakravarti, A.; Zhang, X.; Guo. D. Targeting PGM3 abolishes SREBP-1 activation-hexosamine synthesis feedback regulation to effectively suppress brain tumor growth. Science Advances, 2025, Apr 18; 11(16):eadq0334. (PMID: 40249802)
  • Dlugasm H.; Zhang, X.; Kim, S. Comparative analysis of continuous similarity measures for compound identification in mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 2025, 263: 105417.
  • Teng, Y.; Luo, C.; Qiu, X.; Mu, J.; Sriwastva, M.; Xu, Q.; Hu, X.; Liu, M.; Xu, F.; Zhang, L.; Park, J. W.; Hwang, J. Y.; Kong, M.; Zhang, X.; Xu, R.; Yan, J.; Merchant, M.; McClain, C. J.; Liu, Z.; Zhang, H-G. Plant-nanoparticles enhance anti-PD-L1 efficacy by shaping human commensal microbiota metabolites. Nature Commun., 2025, 16, 1295.  (PMID: 39900923).
  • He, L.; Wang, Y.; Yuan, F.; Morrissey, S.; Geller, A. E.; Hu, X.; Xu, R.; Ma, X.; Zhang, H. G.; McLeish, K. R.; Huang, J.; Zhang, X.; Yan, J. Metabolomics Profiling Reveals Critical Roles of Indoxyl Sulfate in the Regulation of Innate Monocytes in COVID-19. Cells, 2025, 14(4), 256.
  • Lypova, N.; Dougherty, S. M.; Clem, B. F.; Feng, J.; Yin, X.; Zhang, X.; Li, X.; Chesney, J. A.; Imbert-Fernandez, Y. PFKFB3-dependent redox homeostasis and DNA repair support cell survival under EGFR-TKIs in non-small cell lung carcinoma. Cancer Metab., 2024, 12(1):37. (PMID: 39696407)
  • He, L.; Xu, R.; Ma, X.; Yin, X.; Mueller, E.; Feng, W.; Menze, M.; McClain, C. J.; Zhang, X. Multiomics studies on metabolism changes in alcohol-associated liver disease. J. Proteome Res.  2024, 23(11): 4962-4972. (PMID: 39418671)
  • Guo, W.; Zhong, W.; He, L.; Wei, X.; Hao, L.; Dong, H.; Yue, R.; Sun, X.; Yin, X.; Zhao, J.; Zhang, X.; Zhou, Z. Reversal of hepatic accumulation of nordeoxycholic acid underlines the beneficial effects of cholestyramine therapy for alcohol-associated liver disease in mice. Hepatol. Commun. 2024, 8(8): e0507. (PMID: 39082957)
  • Zhong, Y.; Geng, F.; Mazik, L.; Yin, X.; Becker, A. P.; Mohammed, S.; Su, H.; Xing, E.; Kou, Y.; Chiang, C.; Fan, Y.; Li, P-K.; Mo, X.; Lefai, E.; He, L.; Cheng, X.; Zhang, X.; Chakravarti, A.; Guo, D. Combinatorial targeting of glutamine metabolism and lysosomal-based lipid metabolism is an effective therapy for glioblastoma. Cell Rep. Med., 2024, 5(9):101706. (PMID: 39236712)
  • Zhao, J.; Daniel Gomes, D.; Yuan, F.; Feng, J.; Zhang, X.; O’Toole, T. E. Oral polystyrene consumption potentiates atherosclerotic lesion formation in ApoE-/- mice. Circ. Res. 2024, 134(9), 1228-1230. (PMID: 38662862)
  • Xu, R.; Liu, H.; Yuan, F.; Kim, S.; Kirpich, I.; McClain, C. J., Zhang, X. Lipid Wizard: a software for comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based lipid profiling. Anal. Chem. 2024, 96(14), 5375-5383. (PMID: 38523323)
  • Milanes, J. E.; Yan, V. C.; Pham, C.; Muller, F.; Kwain, S.; Rees, K. C.; Dominy, B. N.; Whitehead, D. C.; Millward, S. W.; Bolejack, M. B.; Abendroth, J.; Phan, I. Q.; Staker, B.; Moseman, E. A.; Zhang, X.; Ma, X.; Jebet, A.; Yin, X.; Morris, J. C. Enolase inhibitors as therapeutic leads for Naegleria fowleri infection. PLoS Pathog. 2024, 20(8): e1012412. (PMID: 39088549)
  • Sundaram, K.; Teng, Y.; Mu, J.; Xu, F.; Sriwastva, M.; Zhang, L.; Park, J. W.; Zhang, X.; Yan, J.; Zhang, S.; Merchant, M.; Chen, S.; McClain, C. J.; Dryden, G.; Zhang, H-G. Outer membrane vesicles released from garlic exosome-like nanoparticles (GaELN) train gut bacteria that reverses type 2 diabetes via the gut/brain axis. Small, 2024, 2308680.  (PMID: 38225709)
  • Zhao, J.; Adiele, N.; Gomes, D.; Malovichko, M.; Conklin, D. J.; Ekuban, A.; Luo, J.; Gripshover, T.; Watson, W. H.; Banerjee, M.; Smith, M. L.; Rouchka, E. C.; Xu, R.; Zhang, X.; Cave, M. C.; O’Toole, T. E. Obesogenic polystyrene microplastic exposures disrupt the gut-liver-adipose axis. Toxicol. Sci. 2024, 198(2), 210-220. (PMID: 38291899)
  • Warner, J. B.; Hardesty, J. E.; Song, Y. L.; Floyd, A. T.; Jebet, A.; He, L.; Zhang, X.; McClain, C. J.; Hammock, B. D., Warner, D. R., Kirpich, I. A. Hepatic transcriptome and its regulation following soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibition in alcohol-associated liver disease. Am. J. Pathol. 2024,194, 71-84. (PMID: 39725018) 

Team 

Xiang Zhang, Professor and University Scholar, CREAM Director

xiang.zhang@louisville.edu | 502-852-8878
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Liqing He, Research Assistant Professor

liqing.he@louisville.edu | 502-852-8864
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Zhang Lab

A&S Department of Chemistry

Website about

Phone

502-852-8878

Location

Shumaker Research Building
Belknap Campus

Hours

xiang.zhang@louisville.edu