Hongkui Zeng
{{Short description|Neuroscientist}}
{{Infobox scientist
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| name = Hongkui Zeng
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| nationality = Chinese, American
| fields = Neuroscience
| workplaces = Allen Institute for Brain Science
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| education = B.S., Wuhan University; PhD, Brandeis University
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| doctoral_advisor = Michael Rosbash
| academic_advisors = Susumu Tonegawa
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| known_for = Cre mouse lines, large scale atlases of the mouse brain
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Hongkui Zeng is the Director of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, where she leads the creation of open-access datasets and tools to accelerate neuroscience discovery.{{Cite web|title=Hongkui Zeng|url=https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/about/team/staff-profiles/hongkui-zeng/|access-date=2021-05-10|website=alleninstitute.org}} In 2011-2014 Zeng led the team that created the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas,{{Cite news|last=Begley|first=Sharon|date=2014-04-07|title=Researchers report that they have created a diagram of a mouse's brain|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-report-that-they-have-created-a-diagram-of-a-mouses-brain/2014/04/07/8755ec82-ba8c-11e3-9a05-c739f29ccb08_story.html|access-date=2021-05-10|issn=0190-8286}} which indicates which regions of the mouse brain are connected to which other regions.{{Cite web|last=Dance|first=Amber|title=A Massive Global Effort Maps How the Brain Is Wired|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-massive-global-effort-maps-how-the-brain-is-wired/|access-date=2021-05-10|website=Scientific American|language=en}} Since then, she has led the creation of atlases of neuronal cell types{{Cite web|date=2018-11-01|title=Neuroscientists draw up a 'parts list' covering 133 different types of brain cells|url=https://www.geekwire.com/2018/neuroscientists-draw-parts-list-covering-133-different-types-brain-cells/|access-date=2021-05-10|website=GeekWire|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Revealed: New Cortical Neuron Types|url=https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/revealed--new-cortical-neuron-types-65022|access-date=2021-05-10|website=The Scientist Magazine®|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Overview :: Allen Brain Atlas: Cell Types|url=https://celltypes.brain-map.org/|access-date=2021-05-10|website=celltypes.brain-map.org}} in the brain of humans and mice.{{Cite web|title=Transcriptional Landscape of the Brain - brain-map.org|url=https://portal.brain-map.org/explore/transcriptome|access-date=2021-05-10|website=portal.brain-map.org}}
Biography
Zeng received her Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from Brandeis University, in the laboratory of Michael Rosbash, where she studied the molecular mechanisms of the circadian clock in fruit flies. Then as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the laboratory of Susumu Tonegawa she studied the molecular and synaptic mechanisms underlying hippocampus-dependent plasticity and learning. She joined the Allen Institute for Brain Science in 2006.
At the Allen Institute, Zeng led the team that created the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas, which indicates which regions of the mouse brain are connected to which other regions. The atlas was published in 2014.{{Cite journal|last1=Oh|first1=Seung Wook|last2=Harris|first2=Julie A.|last3=Ng|first3=Lydia|last4=Winslow|first4=Brent|last5=Cain|first5=Nicholas|last6=Mihalas|first6=Stefan|last7=Wang|first7=Quanxin|last8=Lau|first8=Chris|last9=Kuan|first9=Leonard|last10=Henry|first10=Alex M.|last11=Mortrud|first11=Marty T.|date=April 2014|title=A mesoscale connectome of the mouse brain|url= |journal=Nature|language=en|volume=508|issue=7495|pages=207–214|doi=10.1038/nature13186|pmid=24695228 |issn=1476-4687|pmc=5102064|bibcode=2014Natur.508..207O }} It was obtained by injecting the brains of living mice with viruses carrying the gene for the glowing marker green fluorescence protein (GFP). The neurons at each injection site accumulate GFP along their axons, and so point to the other neurons to which they are connected.
Zeng leads the creation of atlases of cell types in the brain of humans and mice. This work aims to have a systematic understanding of the common and unique properties for each of the brain's neural components - the different types of neuron; to monitor their activities during brain function; and to manipulate these neurons to investigate their function. To gain systematic understanding of the properties, interconnections and functions of these cell types, her team combines genetic tools with large-scale imaging and single-cell analysis technologies.{{Cite journal|last=Marx|first=Vivien|date=January 2021|title=Method of the Year: spatially resolved transcriptomics|journal=Nature Methods|language=en|volume=18|issue=1|pages=9–14|doi=10.1038/s41592-020-01033-y|pmid=33408395 |issn=1548-7105|doi-access=free}}
In 2023, she earned the Pradel Research Award by the National Academy of Sciences and was elected as a member.{{cite web |title=Pradel Research Award |url=https://www.nasonline.org/award/pradel-research-award/ |website=National Academy of Sciences}}{{cite news |date= |title=National Academy of Sciences Member Directory |url=https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/hongkui-zeng-6fjd3a/ |access-date= |work=National Academy of Sciences}}
References
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External links
- {{google scholar id|PclBFdMAAAAJ}}
- [https://neurotree.org/neurotree/tree.php?pid=33553 NeuroTree]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeng, Hongkui}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Chinese neuroscientists
Category:Chinese women neuroscientists
Category:American neuroscientists
Category:American women neuroscientists
Category:Brandeis University alumni