Dr. Dong received his Ph. D degree in pharmaceutical sciences from Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Japan. He began his postdoctoral training in the field of neuropharmacology and molecular neurobiology at the Psychiatric Institute, UIC in 1999 and he was appointed to current position in 2003.

Since 1995, Dr. Dong has published more than 45 scientific papers that have been cited in other literature 300 times (based on ISI data). As a full-time faculty member, Dr. Dong currently investigates the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the development of mental disorders, focusing especially on the downregulation of two genes observed in the schizophrenic brain: reelin and glutamic acid decarboxylase 67. He is also conducting research on the development of possible pharmacological interventions to prevent or reverse genes downregulation caused by hypermethylation and contributing to new therapeutic strategies for treatment of this devastating disease.

Representative Publications

Dong E, Caruncho H, Liu WS, Smalheiser NR, Grayson DR, Costa E, Guidotti A. reelin-integrin receptor interaction regulates Arc mRNA translation in synaptoneurosomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2003 Apr 29;100(9):5479-84.

Erbo Dong, Kinzo Matsumoto, Veska Uzunova, Ikuko Sugaya, Hiroki Takahata, Hiroshi Watanabe, Erminio Costa and Alessandro Guidotti. Brain 5a-dihydroprogesterone and allopregnanolone synthesis in a mouse model of protracted social isolation. Pro. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 98(5) 2849-2854, 2001.

Pinna G, Dong E, Matsumoto K, Costa E, Guidotti A. In socially isolated mice, the reversal of brain allopregnanolone down-regulation mediates the anti-aggressive action of fluoxetine. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Feb 18;100(4):2035-40.

Dong E, Matsumoto K, Watanabe H. Diazepam binding inhibitor (DBI) reduces testosterone and estradiol levels in vivo. Life Sci. 2002 Feb 1;70(11):1317-23.

Costa E, Davis JM, Dong E, Grayson DR, Guidotti A, Tremolizzo L, Veldic M. A GABAergic cortical deficit dominates schizophrenia pathophysiology. Crit Rev Neurobiol. 2004;16(1-2):1-23.

Guidotti A, Dong E, Matsumoto K, Pinna G, Rasmusson AM, Costa E. isolated mouse: a model to study the putative role of allopregnanolone and 5alpha-dihydroprogesterone in psychiatric disorders. Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 2001 Nov;37(1-3):110-5. Review.

Erbo Dong, Kinzo Matsumoto, Michihisa Toda, Yoshihiko Kaneko, and Hiroshi Watanabe. Involvement of peripheral type of benzodiazepine receptor in social isolation stress-induced decrease in pentobarbital sleep in mice. Life Sciences 1999; 65(15): 1561-8.

Erbo Dong, Kinzo Matsumoto, Michihisa Toda, and Hiroshi Watanabe. Possible involvement of diazepam binding inhibitor and its fragment octadecaneuropeptide in social isolation stress-induced decrease in pentobarbital sleep in mice. Life Sciences 1999; 64(19): 1779-84.

Erbo Dong, Kinzo Matsumoto, Michihisa Toda, Yoshihiko Kaneko, and Hiroshi Watanabe.Diazepam binding inhibitor (DBI) gene expression in the brains of socially isolated and group-housed mice. Neuroscience Research 1999 Mar; 33(3): 171-7.

Tremolizzo L, Doueiri MS, Dong E, Grayson DR, Davis J, Pinna G, Tueting P, Rodriguez-Menendez V, Costa E, Guidotti A. Valproate corrects the schizophrenia-like epigenetic behavioral modifications induced by methionine in mice. Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Mar 1;57(5):500-9.