Hu Hailan

Hu Hailan (; born September 1973) is a Chinese neuroscientist, professor, and executive director of the Center for Neuroscience at Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China. Hu explores neural mechanisms underlying social behaviors and psychiatric diseases. She specifically explores the neural substrates of social rank and the role of neuron-glia interactions in driving depressive behaviors. Hu discovered the anatomical and molecular targets of ketamine's fast-acting antidepressant effects to be localized to the lateral habenular circuits in rodents. Hu was also the first scientist outside of Europe and America to be awarded the IBRO-Kemali Prize in over 20 years. She is also a member of the Jiusan Society.

Early life and education Hu was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province with ancestral roots in Dongyang, Jinhua in September 1973. Hu pursued her undergraduate degree at Peking University in Beijing, China. In 1996, she received her Bachelors of Science in biochemistry and molecular biology.

Hu then moved to the United States to work as a research technician for one year at the University of California, San Francisco. Interestingly, PlexB inhibits Rac from binding downstream interactors while at the same time enhancing RhoA activity, altogether driving axon guidance. Hu completed her PhD in 2002.

Following her PhD, Hu pursued her postdoctoral work under the mentorship of Julius Zhu and Roberto Malinow at the University of Virginia.

Career and research In 2008, Hu returned to China and joined the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai and became the principal investigator of the Hu Lab.

Neural circuit mechanisms of social dominance Hu and her lab pioneered the study of neural circuit mechanisms governing social rank. In 2011, they showed that neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex of mice encode rank-specific information. Mice with higher social rank had increased strength of excitatory inputs in the layer IV pyramidal neurons of the mPFC compared to more subordinate mice. They found that activating the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) induces winning in social competitions. They use a behavioral assay called the "tube test" to obtain information about a mouse's rank. They found in 2013 that the lateral habenula (LHb) circuits play a role in depression through neuronal adaptations associated with the enzyme BCamKII upregulation. Hu found that these channels tightly regulate neuronal bursting and excitability of neurons in the LHb. Ketamine has been previously shown to be effective as a rapid antidepressant, yet the mechanisms of action have not yet been completely elucidated. 2019 Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation 2019 IBRO-Kemali International Prize for research in basic and clinical neurosciences 2015 Chinese Young Female scientist Award 2015 Chang Jiang Scholar Award 2013 Meiji Life Science Outstanding Award 2012 Chinese Outstanding Youth Award 2012 and 2014 Excellent Mentorship Award of Chinese Academy of Sciences 2010-2012 Shanghai Pujiang Talent Award 2009-2012 Chinese Hundred Talent Plan Award 2003-2006 Damon Runyon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship 2002 HHMI and IBRO fellowships for MBL Neurobiology Course 1998-2003 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship

Select publications Hu H, Cui Y, Yang Y. Circuits and functions of the lateral habenula in health and in disease. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience. 2020 PMID 32269316 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-020-0292-4 Gao Z, Hu H. Star-like cells spark behavioural hyperactivity in mice. Nature. 2019 571: 43–44. PMID 31263260 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-019-01949-2 Cui Y, Hu S, Hu H. Lateral Habenular Burst Firing as a Target of the Rapid Antidepressant Effects of Ketamine. Trends in Neurosciences. 2019 42: 179–191. PMID 30823984 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2018.12.002 Fan Z, Zhu H, Zhou T, Wang S, Wu Y, Hu H. Using the tube test to measure social hierarchy in mice. Nature Protocols. 2019 PMID 30770887 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-018-0116-4 Cui Y, Yang Y, Dong Y, Hu H. Decoding Depression: Insights from Glial and Ketamine Regulation of Neuronal Burst Firing in Lateral Habenula. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia On Quantitative Biology. PMID 30718267 DOI: 10.1101/sqb.2018.83.036871 Yang Y, Cui Y, Sang K, Dong Y, Ni Z, Ma S, Hu H. Ketamine blocks bursting in the lateral habenula to rapidly relieve depression. Nature. 2018 554: 317–322. PMID 29446381 DOI: 10.1038/nature25509 Cui Y, Yang Y, Ni Z, Dong Y, Cai G, Foncelle A, Ma S, Sang K, Tang S, Li Y, Shen Y, Berry H, Wu S, Hu H. Astroglial Kir4.1 in the lateral habenula drives neuronal bursts in depression. Nature. 2018 554: 323–327. PMID 29446379 DOI: 10.1038/nature25752 Zhou T, Zhu H, Fan Z, Wang F, Chen Y, Liang H, Yang Z, Zhang L, Lin L, Zhan Y, Wang Z, Hu H. History of winning remodels thalamo-PFC circuit to reinforce social dominance. Science 2017 (New York, N.Y.). 357: 162–168. PMID 28706064 DOI: 10.1126/science.aak9726 Wang F, Zhu J, Zhu H, Zhang Q, Lin Z, Hu H. Bidirectional control of social hierarchy by synaptic efficacy in medial prefrontal cortex. Science 2011 (New York, N.Y.). 334: 693–7. PMID 21960531 DOI: 10.1126/science.1209951 Hu H, Qin Y, Bochorishvili G, Zhu Y, van Aelst L, Zhu JJ. Ras signaling mechanisms underlying impaired GluR1-dependent plasticity associated with fragile X syndrome. The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society For Neuroscience. 2008 28: 7847–62. PMID 18667617 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1496-08.2008 Hu H, Real E, Takamiya K, Kang MG, Ledoux J, Huganir RL, Malinow R. Emotion enhances learning via norepinephrine regulation of AMPA-receptor trafficking. Cell. 2007 131: 160–73. PMID 17923095 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2007.09.017 Hu H, Marton TF, Goodman CS. Plexin B mediates axon guidance in Drosophila by simultaneously inhibiting active Rac and enhancing RhoA signaling. Neuron. 2001 32: 39–51. PMID 11604137 DOI: 10.1016/S0896-6273(01)00453-6