Weizhe Hong
Associate Professor, Biological Chemistry, University of California Los Angeles
Associate Professor, Neurobiology, University of California Los Angeles
Biography
The Hong Lab employs a multidisciplinary approach to identify the molecular and neural circuit mechanisms underlying normal social behaviors as well as their dysregulations in neuropsychiatric disorders. Social behaviors are essential for the survival and reproduction of animals. The control of social behavior is of particular importance in social species such as humans. Abnormalities in social behaviors are associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. Despite its importance, many fundamental questions regarding social behavior and its disorders still remain unanswered. We aim to understand how social behavior is regulated at the molecular and circuit level and how social behavior and social experience lead to molecular and circuit level changes in the brain.
We study these questions across molecular, circuit, and behavioral levels, by linking genes to circuits to behaviors. To do that, we take a multi-disciplinary approach and utilize a variety of experimental and computational technologies, including but not limited to optogenetics/chemogenetics, in vivo/vitro calcium imaging and electrophysiology, various genetic and molecular biology techniques, systems approaches such as next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics, and engineering and computational approaches such as machine learning and computer vision.
Publications
- Wu YE, Hong W. Neural basis of prosocial behavior.. Trends in neurosciences, 2022.
- Hong W, Kennedy A, Burgos-Artizzu XP, Zelikowsky M, Navonne SG, Perona P, Anderson DJ. Automated measurement of mouse social behaviors using depth sensing, video tracking, and machine learning.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015.
- Ward A, Hong W, Favaloro V, Luo L. Toll receptors instruct axon and dendrite targeting and participate in synaptic partner matching in a Drosophila olfactory circuit.. Neuron, 2015.
- Hong W, Kim DW, Anderson DJ. Antagonistic control of social versus repetitive self-grooming behaviors by separable amygdala neuronal subsets.. Cell, 2014.
- Hong W, Luo L. Genetic control of wiring specificity in the fly olfactory system.. Genetics, 2014.
- Hong W. Science & SciLifeLab Prize. Assembly of a neural circuit.. Science (New York, N.Y.), 2013.
- Hong W, Wu YE, Fu X, Chang Z. Chaperone-dependent mechanisms for acid resistance in enteric bacteria.. Trends in microbiology, 2012.
- Hong W, Mosca TJ, Luo L. Teneurins instruct synaptic partner matching in an olfactory map.. Nature, 2012.
- Mosca TJ, Hong W, Dani VS, Favaloro V, Luo L. Trans-synaptic Teneurin signalling in neuromuscular synapse organization and target choice.. Nature, 2012.
- de Wit J, Hong W, Luo L, Ghosh A. Role of leucine-rich repeat proteins in the development and function of neural circuits.. Annual review of cell and developmental biology, 2011.
- Hong W, Luo L. Dendritic tiling through TOR signalling.. The EMBO journal, 2009.
- Hong W, Zhu H, Potter CJ, Barsh G, Kurusu M, Zinn K, Luo L. Leucine-rich repeat transmembrane proteins instruct discrete dendrite targeting in an olfactory map.. Nature neuroscience, 2009.
- Wu YE, Hong W, Liu C, Zhang L, Chang Z. Conserved amphiphilic feature is essential for periplasmic chaperone HdeA to support acid resistance in enteric bacteria.. The Biochemical journal, 2008.
- Hong W, Jiao W, Hu J, Zhang J, Liu C, Fu X, Shen D, Xia B, Chang Z. Periplasmic protein HdeA exhibits chaperone-like activity exclusively within stomach pH range by transforming into disordered conformation.. The Journal of biological chemistry, 2005.