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Junfang Wu, BM, PhD

Matjasko Professorship in Anesthesiology Research

Academic Title:

Professor

Primary Appointment:

Anesthesiology

Secondary Appointment(s):

Neurobiology

Administrative Title:

Director of the Anesthesiology Center for Neuroscience Research; Associate Director of UM-MIND

Additional Title:

Vice-Chair for Translational Research, Department of Anesthesiology; Associate Director, University of Maryland - Medicine Institute for Neuroscience Discovery (UM-MIND)

Location:

MSTF, 6-34D

Phone (Primary):

(410) 706-5189

Fax:

(410) 706-1639

Education and Training

BM (Medicine): Jiangxi Medical College, China
MS (Pharmacology): Jiangxi Medical College, China
PhD (Neuropharmacology): Nanjing Medical University, China
Postdoctoral training: Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China
Postdoctoral training: National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Biosketch

Dr. Junfang Wu earned her BM (Medicine) and MS (Pharmacology) at Jiangxi Medical College, China. She received her PhD in Neuropharmacology from Nanjing Medical University, China, and completed postdoctoral training at the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, in Beijing, China.

Dr. Wu also completed postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. She has been a member of the Shock, Trauma, and Anesthesiology Research (STAR) Center since 2010. She currently serves as the Associate Director of the University of Maryland – Medicine Institute for Neuroscience Discovery (UM-MIND).

On June 25, 2025, Dr. Wu was awarded the Matjasko Professor of Anesthesiology Research.

Research/Clinical Keywords

Traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, aging, post-anesthesia/surgery, dementia, neuropathic pain, inflammation, neuroprotection, autophagy-lysosomal, extracellular vesicles, Hv1/NOX2/ROS, TrkB.T1, motor function, cognition, depression, olfaction, microglia, neurons, astrocytes

Highlighted Publications

Li Y, Uzun C, Islam ST, Krishnamachary, Lee H, Wang Z, Li H, Liu S, Wu J. Age-dependent transcriptional and circuit alterations in the brain underlie post-anesthesia neurobehavioral dysfunction. Aging and disease, 2025. June 06, PMID: 40540720. doi: 10.14336/AD.2025.0596. Online ahead of print. 

Ritzel RM, Li Y, Jiao Y, Lei Z, Doran S, He J, Shahror RA, Henry RJ, Khan R, Tan C, Liu S, Stoica BA, Faden AI, Szeto G, Loane DJ, Wu J. Brain injury accelerates the onset of a reversible age-related microglial phenotype associated with inflammatory neurodegeneration. Science Advances, 2023, Mar 10; 9(10): eadd1101. PMID: 36888713.

Lei Z, Krishnamachary B, Khan NZ, Ji Y, Li Y, Li H, Brunner K, Faden AI, Jones JW, Wu J. Spinal cord injury disrupts plasma extracellular vesicles cargoes leading to neuroinflammation in the brain and neurological dysfunction in aged male mice. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2024 Aug, 120: 584-603. PMID: 38986724. **Highlighted by BBI

Ritzel RM, Li Y, Jiao Y, Doran SJ, Khan N, Henry RJ, Brunner K, Loane DJ, Faden AI, Szeto G, Wu J. Bi-directional neuro-immune dysfunction after chronic experimental brain injury. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 2024 Apr 5;21(1):83. PMID: 38581043.

Li Y, Khan N, Ritzel RM, Lei Z, Allen S, Faden AI, Wu J. Sexually dimorphic extracellular vesicle responses after chronic spinal cord injury are associated with neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration in the brain. Journal of Neuroinflammation, 2023, Aug 31;20(1):197. PMID: 37653491. 

Liu X, Lei Z, Gilhooly D, He J, Li Y, Ritzel RM, Li H, Wu L-J, Liu S, Wu J. Traumatic brain injury-induced inflammatory changes in the olfactory bulb disrupt neuronal networks leading to olfactory dysfunction. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2023, Aug 7, 114: 22-45. PMID: 37557959. 

Choi HMC, Li Y, Suraj D, Hsia RC, Wu J#, Lipinski MM#. Autophagy protein ULK1 interacts with and regulates SARM1 during axonal injury. PNAS, 2022 Nov 22; 119(47): e2203824119. PMID: 36375051. (# Correspondent)

Li Y, Lei Z, Ritzel RM, He J, Li H, Choi HMC, Lipinski MM, Wu J. Impairment of autophagy in spinal cord injury exacerbates neuroinflammation and motor functional deficits in mice. Theranostics, 2022; 12(12): 5364-5388. PMID: 35910787

Ritzel RM, He J, Li Y, Cao T, Khan N, Shim B, Sabirzhanov B, Aubrecht T, Stoica BA, Faden AI, Wu L-J, Wu J. Proton extrusion during oxidative burst in microglia exacerbates pathological acidosis following traumatic brain injury. Glia, 2021 Mar;69(3):746-764. PMID: 33090575.

Khan N, Cao T, He J, Ritzel RM, Li Y, Henry RJ, Colson C, Stoica1 BA, Faden AI, Wu J. Spinal cord injury alters microRNA and CD81+ exosome levels in plasma extracellular nanoparticles with neuroinflammatory potential. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2021; 92:165-183. PMID: 33307173. **Highlighted by BBI

Li Y, Ritzel RM, Khan N, Cao T, He J, Matyas JJ, Sabirzhanov B, Liu S, Li H, Stoica BA, Loane DJ, Faden AI, Wu J. Delayed microglial depletion after spinal cord injury reduces chronic inflammation and neurodegeneration in the brain and improves neurological recovery in male mice. Theranostics, 2020; 10(25): 11376-11403. PMID: 33052221.

Dr. Wu's publications on PubMed

Additional Publication Citations

Research Interests

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