Chenghua Gu profile picture

Chenghua Gu, Ph.D.

Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Gu Lab Website

Chenghua Gu - Faculty Profile

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Title: Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The Aim

The Gu Lab studies how blood vessels in the brain regulate blood flow and support and protect brain function.

The Impact

We study how blood vessels respond to changes in brain activity and communicate with the immune system to protect the brain. Brain vasculature is a key mediator of brain function, and also serves as a gateway to deliver medicines to the brain. Knowing how the brain’s vasculature works can help identify new ways to deliver medicine to the brain, potentially slowing the progression of Alzheimer's disease or preventing infection and stroke.

A Closer Look

Article: How the Brain Increases Blood Flow on Demand (Harvard Medical School, July 2025). Harvard Medical School news article on Gu lab research showing how brain blood vessels use rapid electrical signals to boost blood flow to active regions.

Article: Right Place, Right Time (Harvard Medical School, February 2020). Harvard Medical School news article about Gu lab research uncovering how specialized brain arteries detect nearby neural activity and rapidly increase local blood flow, revealing a key mechanism of neurovascular coupling that links brain function to circulation.

Contact

Email: chenghua_gu@hms.harvard.edu
Lab website: gu.hms.harvard.edu

Publications View
Temporal modulation of collective cell behavior controls vascular network topology.
Authors: Authors: Kur E, Kim J, Tata A, Comin CH, Harrington KI, Costa Lda F, Bentley K, Gu C.
Elife
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Control of cerebrovascular patterning by neural activity during postnatal development.
Authors: Authors: Lacoste B, Gu C.
Mech Dev
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The molecular constituents of the blood-brain barrier.
Authors: Authors: Chow BW, Gu C.
Trends Neurosci
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Neuronal and vascular interactions.
Authors: Authors: Andreone BJ, Lacoste B, Gu C.
Annu Rev Neurosci
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Targeting vascular pericytes in hypoxic tumors increases lung metastasis via angiopoietin-2.
Authors: Authors: Keskin D, Kim J, Cooke VG, Wu CC, Sugimoto H, Gu C, De Palma M, Kalluri R, LeBleu VS.
Cell Rep
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A novel method for identifying a graph-based representation of 3-D microvascular networks from fluorescence microscopy image stacks.
Authors: Authors: Almasi S, Xu X, Ben-Zvi A, Lacoste B, Gu C, Miller EL.
Med Image Anal
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Neuropilin-1 functions as a VEGFR2 co-receptor to guide developmental angiogenesis independent of ligand binding.
Authors: Authors: Gelfand MV, Hagan N, Tata A, Oh WJ, Lacoste B, Kang KT, Kopycinska J, Bischoff J, Wang JH, Gu C.
Elife
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Sensory-related neural activity regulates the structure of vascular networks in the cerebral cortex.
Authors: Authors: Lacoste B, Comin CH, Ben-Zvi A, Kaeser PS, Xu X, Costa Lda F, Gu C.
Neuron
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Multiphasic modulation of cholinergic interneurons by nigrostriatal afferents.
Authors: Authors: Straub C, Tritsch NX, Hagan NA, Gu C, Sabatini BL.
J Neurosci
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An image-based RNAi screen identifies SH3BP1 as a key effector of Semaphorin 3E-PlexinD1 signaling.
Authors: Authors: Tata A, Stoppel DC, Hong S, Ben-Zvi A, Xie T, Gu C.
J Cell Biol
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