I received my PhD in Biophysics through joint training at the Max Planck Institute and Huazhong University of Science and Technology, followed by postdoctoral training with Professor Paul J. Kenny at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Since establishing my independent laboratory in 2019, I have developed an interdisciplinary research focused on neuro-immune–metabolic mechanisms of nicotine addiction and related brain disorders.

Nicotine addiction and related metabolic disease; Drug development for smoking cessation and anti-diabetes

1. Yicong Jia, Hong Chen, Qianhui Zou, Sijing Chen, Jiahao Li, Yiming Chen, Liming Lu, Feng Hong, Shuhui Jia, Xiaoyuan Jing, Jiayan Ren, Fahim Muhammad, JiaYu Mi, Jing Duan, Jianxiang Liao, Qing Liu, Fuqiang Xu, Paul J Kenny, Ming-Hu Han, Liping Wang, Zuxin Chen*, Dezhi Cao*, Xin-An Liu*. Gut-Brain Cholinergic Signaling Mediates the Antiseizure Effects of Bacteroides fragilis. Neuron. 2026 Jan 16.  *Corresponding author
2. Xin-an Liu, Carlos A. Aguirre, Qixing Yang, Jiayan Ren, Lina Wang, Furong Ju, Hongling Guo, Jintao Wang, Luping Liu, Zixuan Li, Juan He, Zhibin Xu, Cuihan Shi, Rigo Cintron-Colon, Tatiana Michel, Malcolm Wood, Alexander V. Margetts, Tate A. Pollock, Samara J. Vilca, Luis, M. Tuesta, Silvia Di Angelantonio, Bernadette Basilico, Maria Egle De Stefano, Jianxun Xia, Pengfei Wei, Shupeng Li, Xiaofei Yang, Liping Wang, Violaine D. Delorm-Walker, Maria Cecillia Garibaldi Marcondes, Loren Parsons, Bruno Conti* and Zuxin Chen*. Interleukin 13 Signaling Modulates Dopaminergic Functions and Nicotine Reward in Rodents. Molecular Psychiatry, 2025 Aug 7. *Corresponding author
3. Xiaoyuan Jing#, Zhibin Xu#, Qixing Yang#, Yan Jiang#, Jintao Wang, Ruoxi Wang, Yuantao Li, Rouxuan Zhou, Liping Wang*, Zuxin Chen* and Xin-an Liu*. Unraveling sexually dimorphic offspring behaviors: maternal premating stress and the neuro-microbial-metabolic network. Molecular Psychiatry, 2025 Oct 10. *Corresponding author
4. Shuhui Jia, Xiaoyuan Jing, Ruoxi Wang, Mengke Su,  Pei Wang, Yingxin Feng, Xiaohu Ren, Longfang Tu, Ping Wei, Zhen Lu, Yicong Jia, Feng Hong, Zhizhun Mo, Jiemeng Zou, Kang Huang, Caiyun Yan, Qianhui Zou, Liang Wang, Guoping Zhong, Zhi Zeng, Qiuliyang Yu, Wen Su, Xifei Yang, Fan Pan, Jianzhi Wang, Liping Wang, Lijun Kang, Paul J Kenny, Zuxin Chen*, Xin-An Liu*. Nicotine Reprograms Aging-Related Metabolism and Protects Against Motor Decline in Mice. Advanced Science, 2025 Jul 28:e15311. *Corresponding author
5. Xu, Xinli#; Zheng, Shuidiao#; Ren, Jiayan#; Li, Zixuan#; Li, Jinyan; Xu, Zhibin; Yuan, Feng; Yang, Qixing; Margetts, Alexander, V; Pollock, Tate A.; Vilca, Samara J.; Yang, Canyu;Chen, Gaowei; Shen, Peilei; Li, Shupeng; Xia, Jianxun; Chen, Chuyun; Zhou, Tao; Zhu, Yingjie;Tuesta, Luis M.; Wang, Liping; Kenny, Paul J.; Liu, Xin-An*; Chen, Zuxin* ; Hypothalamic CRFneurons facilitate brain reward function, Current Biology, 2024, 34(2): 389-402.*Corresponding author
6. Chu, Ming#; Wang, Ruoxi#; Jing, Xiaoyuan; Li, Ding; Fu, Guofeng; Deng, Jingjing; Xu,Zhibin; Zhao, Jing; Liu, Zhang; Fan, Qiming; Pei, Lanjie; Zeng, Zhi; Liu, Chuan; Chen, Zuxin*;Lu, Jin*; Liu, Xin-an* ; Conventional and multi-omics assessments of subacute inhalation toxicity due to propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin aerosol produced by electronic cigarettes, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2024, 271: 132-154. *Corresponding author
7. Changwei Gong, Changhong Jing, Xin-an Liu, Victoria X. Wang, Cheuk Ying Tang, Paul J. Kenny, Ye Li, Zuxin Chen*, Shuqiang Wang*; Generative artificial intelligence-enabled dynamic detection of rat nicotine-related circuits. Neural Computing and Applications (2024) 36:4693–4707. *Corresponding author
8. Chen, Zuxin; Liu, Xin-An*; Kenny, Paul J* ; Central and peripheral actions of nicotine that influence blood glucose homeostasis and the development of diabetes, Pharmacological Research, 2023, 194: 563-580
9. Duncan A, Heyer MP, Ishikawa M, Caligiuri SPB, Liu XA, Chen Z, Vittoria Micioni Di Bonaventura M, Elayouby KS, Ables JL, Howe WM, Bali P, Fillinger C, Williams M, O'Connor RM, Wang Z, Lu Q, Kamenecka TM, Ma'ayan A, O'Neill HC, Ibanez-Tallon I, Geurts AM, Kenny PJ*. Habenular TCF7L2 links nicotine addiction to diabetes. Nature Oct;574 (7778):372-377, 2019
10. Tuesta LM, Chen Z, Duncan A, Fowler CD, Ishikawa M, Lee BR, Liu XA, Lu Q, Cameron M, Hayes MR, Kamenecka TM, Pletcher M, Kenny PJ. GLP-1 acts on habenular avoidance circuits to control nicotine intake. Nature Neuroscience, 2017 

My representative contributions in the past 2 years include discovering a positive reward function of the major stress response CRF neurons and a novel CRF–dopamine circuit mechanism (Current Biology, 2024; Translational Psychiatry, 2024); establishing direct neuroimmune modulation of dopaminergic neurons and nicotine addiction via vesicular cytokine release (Molecular Psychiatry, 2025); demonstrating that lifelong nicotine exposure reprograms aging-related metabolism and gut microbiota while delaying motor decline (Advanced Science, 2025); uncovering gut–brain mechanisms of transgenerational stress (Molecular Psychiatry, 2025); identifying a gut cholinergic–vagal pathway relevant to epilepsy (Neuron, 2026); and revealing that blockage of the sympathetic activation via a novel adrenergic alpah2A antagonist promotes β-cell regeneration and shows sustained therapeutic potential for type 2 diabetes