image: Huimin Zhang is an assistant professor of molecular, cell and systems biology at UC Riverside.
Credit: Zhang lab, UC Riverside.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Huimin Zhang, an assistant professor of molecular, cell and systems biology at UC Riverside, has received a 2025 Grant for Junior Faculty awarded by the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR). Zhang is one of only six recipients of the grants this year.
The Grants for Junior Faculty program provides up to $150,000 to junior faculty for 1-2 years to conduct research that will serve as the basis for longer term research efforts on the biology of aging.
“This grant has helped many promising scientists advance the field’s understanding of the basic mechanisms of aging, building a foundation of knowledge that will help us all live healthier, longer,” said Stephanie Lederman, executive director of AFAR.
Zhang’s research project is titled “Elucidating the Role of HELIOS in Epigenetic Regulation of T Cell Aging and TFH Cell Differentiation.” Her lab investigates why the immune system weakens with age, leaving older adults more vulnerable to infections and less responsive to vaccines. Her work centers on helper T cells — the “coaches” that guide B cells, the body’s antibody producers.
Her lab discovered that as people age, helper T cells lose a key protein called HELIOS, which impairs their ability to support B cells and weakens antibody responses. The lab is now testing whether restoring HELIOS can rejuvenate aged helper T cells, enhance B cell function, and strengthen immune defenses.
“Our ultimate goal is to design better vaccines and therapies that restore immune vitality in older adults,” Zhang said. “HELIOS appears to be a central switch controlling whether the immune system stays strong and precise or falters with age. When it declines, the immune ‘coaching system’ is out of balance.”
By restoring HELIOS in aging T cells, Zhang’s lab hopes to strengthen how these cells support B cells and boost antibody responses. This could lead to new vaccine boosters or molecular “add-ons” that help older adults respond to infections as effectively as younger people — reducing hospitalizations from pneumonia, shingles, or flu by reviving the immune system at its core.
Zhang explained that studying HELIOS also helps in understanding how aging reshapes our epigenetics and immune function, which can assist in identifying those most at risk and reveal new ways to rejuvenate immunity, she said.
“The key idea: aging immunity isn’t broken — it can be reprogrammed,” she said. “In the end, our research isn’t just about aging — it’s about rewriting its rules. By turning these insights into new vaccines and immune-reviving therapies, we aim to help older adults fight disease with the strength of youth, thus transforming the science of aging into the medicine of longevity.”
Zhang received her doctoral degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UCLA, followed by postdoctoral training at The Scripps Research Institute and Stanford University. She is committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists at the intersection of immunology and aging. She joined UCR in 2023.
AFAR is a national non-profit organization that supports and advances pioneering biomedical research.
The University of California, Riverside is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to Inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UCR's enrollment is more than 26,000 students. The campus opened a medical school in 2013 and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UCR Palm Desert Center. The campus has an annual impact of more than $2.7 billion on the U.S. economy. To learn more, visit www.ucr.edu.