Zhen Zuo

Mr. Zhen Zuo


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

7Years (2020-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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30 September 2025 in Experimental Eye Research
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
YBYourong Bao
Yourong Bao
SSSujung Soh
Sujung Soh
JLJean Li
Jean Li
ZZZhen Zuo
Zhen Zuo
SFSalma Ferdous
Salma Ferdous
Rui ChenRui Chen
Rui Chen

10 September 2020 in bioRxiv
Verified
Preprint
Open access
PDF file
FCFrancisco Jose Grisanti Canozo
Francisco Jose Grisanti Canozo
ZZZhen Zuo
Zhen Zuo
JMJames F. Martin
James F. Martin
MSMd. Abul Hassan Samee
Md. Abul Hassan Samee
Intercellular communication and spatial organization of cells are two critical aspects of a tissue’s function. Understanding these aspects requires integrating data from single-cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-seq) and spatial transcriptomics (ST), the two cutting edge technologies that offer complementary insights into tissue composition, architecture, and function. Integrating these data types is non-trivial since they differ widely in the number of profiled genes and often do not share marker genes for given cell-types. We developed STANN, a neural network model that overcomes these methodological challenges. Given ST and scRNA-seq data of a tissue, STANN models cell-types in the scRNA-seq dataset from the genes that are profiled by both ST and scRNA-seq. The trained STANN model then assigns cell-types to the ST dataset. We apply STANN to assign cell-types in a recent ST dataset (SeqFISH+) of mouse olfactory bulb (MOB). Our analysis of STANN’s assigned cell-types revealed principles of tissue architecture and intercellular communication at unprecedented detail. We find that cell-type compositions are disproportionate in the tissue, yet their relative proportions are spatially consistent within individual morphological layers. Surprisingly, within a morphological layer, there is a high spatial variation in cell-type colocalization patterns and intercellular communication mechanisms. Our analysis suggests that spatially localized gene regulatory networks may account for such variability in intercellular communication mechanisms.