In Dr. Jiming Kong’s research program, he seeks to understand molecular regulation of neuronal cell death in neurodegenerative diseases. Together with his lab group, using in vivo and in vitro models of stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and depression, he examines the role of post-translational oxidative modification of SOD1 in the development of age-related neurodegenerative diseases. His lab personnel investigates the role of mitochondrial death-inducing proteins in regulating mitophagy and delayed neuronal death in stroke. Dr. Kong’s lab group has also been testing a demyelinating hypothesis of schizophrenia.