Yi Zuo

Yi Zuo is a neuroscience professor and researcher born in China. She studies molecular, cellular and developmental biology. Zuo is currently an associate professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), where she also heads a research lab.

Biography Zuo received a Bachelor's from Tsinghua University in 1998 came to the United States to do her PhD studies at Northwestern University in 2002. Her post-doctorate work was conducted at New York University and the University of Texas at Austin. Zuo found out that she was pregnant when she started interviewing for jobs after her post-doctorate work and when she came to UCSC, her son was three months old. Her areas of study include looking at how glial cells possibly disrupt communication between neurons and brain plasticity. The award includes a $45,000 grant towards unrestricted research which used modern imaging techniques and molecular manipulation to better study the ways that glia and neurons interact and influence memory and learning in the human brain. She was also a 2015 National Award finalist for the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists.

Zuo's studies and research have been published in Nature, The Journal of Neuroscience, The Journal of Visualized Experiments, and other journals.