Weizhe Hong, Ph.D.

Research

Dr. Weizhe Hong is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry and the Department of Neurobiology at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Hong received a B.S. degree in biological sciences at Tsinghua University. When he was in high school and college, he worked with Zengyi Chang, on mechanisms of protein folding and microbial stress response, first at Tsinghua University and then at Peking University. He received his PhD degree in 2012 at Stanford University, under the guidance of Liqun Luo. His PhD research focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of wiring specificity during olfactory system development. He was a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow in David Anderson’s Laboratory, working on neural mechanisms underlying social and emotional behaviors. Dr. Hong received the Genetics Society of America’s Larry Sandler Memorial Award for the best PhD dissertation on the Drosophila research, and presented the Larry Katz Memorial Lecture in the Cold Spring Harbor Conference for the best PhD dissertation on neural circuit research.

Publications

Hong W, Kennedy A, Burgos-Artizzu X, Zelikowsky M, Navonne S, Perona P, Anderson DJ. (2015) Automated measurement of mouse social behaviors using depth sensing, video tracking, and machine learning. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 112, E5351-5360.

Pearce MM, Spartz EJ, Hong W, Luo L, Kopito RR. (2015) Prion-like transmission of neuronal huntingtin aggregates to phagocytic glia in the Drosophila brain. Nature Communications. 13, 6:6768.

Ward A*, Hong W*, Favaloro V, Luo L. (2015) Toll Receptors Instruct Axon and Dendrite Targeting and Participate in Synaptic Partner Matching in a Drosophila Olfactory Circuit. Neuron. 85, 1013-1028. (*co-first authors)

Hong W, Kim DW, Anderson DJ. (2014) Antagonistic Control of Social versus Repetitive Self-Grooming Behaviors by Separable Amygdala Neuronal Subsets. Cell. 158, 1348-1361.

Hong W, Luo L. (2014) Genetic Control of Wiring Specificity in the Fly Olfactory System. Genetics. 196, 17-29.

Hong W. (2013) Assembly of A Neural Circuit. Science. 342, 1186. (doi: 10.1126/science.1247568)

Mosca TJ*, Hong W*, Dani VS, Favaloro V, Luo L. (2012) Trans-synaptic Teneurin signaling in neuromuscular synapse organization and target choice. Nature. 484, 237-241. (*co-first authors)

Hong W, Mosca TJ, Luo L. (2012) Teneurins instruct synaptic partner matching in an olfactory map. Nature. 484, 201-207.

Hong W*, Wu YE*, Fu X, Chang Z. (2012) Chaperone-dependent mechanisms for acid resistance in enteric bacteria. Trends in Microbiology. 20, 328-335. (*co-first authors)

de Wit J*, Hong W*, Luo L, Ghosh A. (2011) Role of leucine-rich repeat proteins in the development and function of neural circuits. Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology. 27, 697-729. (*co-first authors)

Hong W, Zhu H, Potter CJ, Barsh G, Kuruzu M, Zinn K, Luo L. (2009) Leucine-rich repeat transmembrane proteins instruct discrete dendrite targeting in an olfactory map. Nature Neuroscience. 12, 2542-2550.

Hong W and Luo L. (2009) Dendritic tiling through TOR signaling. EMBO Journal. 28, 3783-3784.

Wu YE*, Hong W*, Zhang L, Liu C, Chang Z. (2008) Conserved amphiphilic feature is essential for periplasmic chaperone HdeA to support acid resistance in enteric bacteria. Biochemical Journal. 412, 389-397. (*co-first authors)

Jiao W, Hong W, Li P, Sun S, Ma J, Qian M, Hu M, Chang Z. (2008) The dramatically increased chaperone activity of small heat shock protein IbpB is retained for an extended period of time after the stress condition is removed. Biochemical Journal. 410, 63-70.

Liu C, Mao K, Zhang M, Sun Z, Hong W, Li C, Peng B, Chang Z. (2008) The SH3-like domain switches its interaction partners to modulate the repression activity of mycobacterial Iron-dependent transcription regulator in response to metal Ion fluctuations. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 283, 2439-2453.

Hong W, Jiao W, Hu J, Zhang J, Liu C, Fu X, Shen D, Xia B, Chang Z. (2005) Periplasmic protein HdeA exhibits chaperone-like activity exclusively within stomach pH range by transforming into disordered conformation. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 280, 27029-27034.

Liu Y, Fu X, Shen J, Zhang H, Hong W, Chang Z. (2004) Periplasmic proteins of Escherichia coli are highly resistant to aggregation: reappraisal for roles of molecular chaperones in periplasm. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 316, 795-801.