Dr. Zou’s research focuses on the molecular signaling mechanisms for synapse formation, maintenance, and function. He received his Ph.D. from UC San Diego and Davis, and postdoc training at UC San Francisco. From 2000 to 2006, Dr. Zou served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Neurobiology at the University of Chicago. He joined UC San Diego in 2006 as an Associate Professor and has been a Full Professor since 2011.

Dr. Zou’s lab studies the fundamental mechanisms underlying the development, function, maintenance, and repair of neural circuits. The local signaling mechanisms that directly assemble the core structure of glutamatergic synapses in the brain have long remained elusive. To this end, Dr. Zou’s lab found that the planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling components are localized at developing and mature glutamatergic synapses—in the same way as in PCP signaling—and are essential for synapse formation during development and for synapse maintenance in mature neural circuits. In addition, the lab found that the PCP components are direct targets of amyloid-associated synapse degeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, and blocking the function of Ryk, a negative regulator of PCP signaling, protects glutamatergic synapses in animal models of Alzheimer’s.

To learn more, visit the Zou Lab website.