Ge Yang
Researcher in Rui Li's group at Central China Normal University who has led mouse studies on how microplastics, nanoplastics and the plasticiser DEHP affect the young brain
School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Rui Li group (first-author papers 2023, 2025 and 2026)
Ge Yang is the first author of YANG2026, which exposed young mice to polypropylene microplastics and the plastic softener DEHP. The mice developed changes resembling features of autism spectrum disorder. In their brains, mTOR was overactive and autophagy, the recycling process that keeps nerve cells healthy, was impaired. When the mice were given rapamycin, which blocks mTOR, autophagy recovered and the social and behavioural problems improved. Because the work is in mice, it points to a possible mechanism rather than a proven cause in children.
Yang has been first author of three papers from the same group. In 2023 the team showed that combined exposure to polypropylene microplastics and DEHP caused memory deficits and damage in the hippocampus of young mice. In 2025, in ACS Nano, Yang and colleagues showed that polystyrene nanoplastics upset the balance of proteins in the brain partly through changes in gut bacteria, and that the sugar trehalose could ease this damage.
No official profile was found, so training and current position are given only from the publication record.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | A | Early-life exposure to polypropylene microplastics and DEHP induces ASD-relevant neurodevelopmental alterations involving mTOR-regulated autophagy impairment YANG2026 First author: showed in mice that early-life microplastic and DEHP exposure overactivates mTOR, impairs autophagy and causes autism-like behaviour that rapamycin reverses. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 4
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Ge Yang.
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- Ling Zhang Contributed to a 2026 toxicology study linking early-life exposure to microplastics and the plasticiser DEHP to autism-relevant brain changes through impaired mTOR-regulated autophagy
- Rui Li Toxicologist at Central China Normal University in Wuhan who leads mouse studies of how early-life exposure to microplastics, nanoplastics and plastic additives harms the developing brain
- Xiaojie Sun Contributed to a 2026 toxicology study linking early-life exposure to microplastics and the plasticiser DEHP to autism-relevant brain changes through impaired mTOR-regulated autophagy
- Yifei Wang Environmental toxicologist who contributed to a study of how early-life exposure to food-contact microplastics and a common plasticiser disrupts brain development through mTOR signalling
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