Xiaofeng Yang M.D.

Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Mayo Mail Code 486
420 Delaware Street S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455 
Office Phone: (612)625-2939
Email: yangxf@umn.edu

Dr. Yang is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Clinical Neuroscience. He received his medical degree from Beijing University, School of Medicine, Beijing, China in 1982. He received his Master of Science degree and completed his residency training in the Department of Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) Beijing , China from 1983-1992. From 1992-1999, Dr. Yang performed his postdoctoral fellowship training in the Department of Surgery, University of Missouri-Columbia in Columbia, Missouri and then in the Department of Neurology, Washington University in St.Louis, School of Medicine, St.Louis, Missouri from 1999-2002. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota in July 2007, Dr. Yang was a Research Assistant Professor of the Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine from July 2002-2007. Dr. Yang is a member of the Society for Neuroscience and the American Epilepsy Society. Dr Yang¿s research focuses on the basic mechanisms of epilepsy and novel technologies for treating epilepsy. He and his colleagues are particularly interested in developing novel animal models of epilepsy in vitro and in vivo. Their experiments have already demonstrated that focal cooling can rapidly terminate experimental neocortical seizures by utilizing small thermoelectric (Peltier) devices. Using a fluorescent membrane dye, their investigated results also showed that cooling can reduce the release of synaptic neurotransmitters. Their long-term goal is to develop methods of localizing and aborting focal epilepsy in patients with cooling devices. Their most recent epilepsy experiments involved the study of the mechanism of novel antiepileptic medicine and techniques to terminate seizures using ultraviolet light emitting diode (UV LED) coupled with a newly developed "caged" gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

Selected Publications:

Xu L, Rensing N, Yang XF, Zhang HX, Thio LL, Rothman SM, Weisenfeld AE, Wong M, Yamada KA. Leptin inhibits 4-aminopyridine- and pentylenetetrazole-induced seizures and AMPAR-mediated synaptic transmission in rodents. J Clin Invest. 2008 Jan;118(1):272-80.

Yang XF, Weisenfeld A, Rothman SM. Prolonged exposure to levetiracetam reveals a presynaptic effect on neurotransmission. Epilepsia. 2007 Oct;48(10):1861-9. Epub 2007 May 23.

Rothman SM, Perry G, Yang XF, Hyrc K, Schmidt BF. Optical suppression of seizure-like activity with an LED. Epilepsy Res. 2007 May;74(2-3):201-9. Epub 2007 Apr 19.

Yang XF, Kennedy BR, Lomber SG, Schmidt RE, Rothman SM. Cooling produces minimal neuropathology in neocortex and hippocampus. Neurobiol Dis. 2006 Sep;23(3):637-43. Epub 2006 Jul 7.

Rensing N, Ouyang Y, Yang XF, Yamada KA, Rothman SM, Wong M. In vivo imaging of dendritic spines during electrographic seizures. Ann Neurol. 2005 Dec;58(6):888-98.

Rothman SM, Smyth MD, Yang XF, Peterson GP. Focal cooling for epilepsy: an alternative therapy that might actually work. Epilepsy Behav. 2005 Sep;7(2):214-21. Review.

Yang XF, Ouyang Y, Kennedy BR, Rothman SM. Cooling blocks rat hippocampal neurotransmission by a presynaptic mechanism: observations using 2-photon microscopy. J Physiol. 2005 Aug 15;567(Pt 1):215-24. Epub 2005 Jun 16.