| | Principal Investigators
| Bai Lu, Ph.D. |
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Dr. Bai Lu received his B.Sc. degree at East China Univ. in Shanghai, China. He came to the
United States and did his Ph.D. work at Cornell University Medical College in New York,
studying neurotrophin gene expression. After completing his postdoctoral training at Rockefeller
University with Paul Greengard and Columbia Univ. with Mu-ming Poo on molecular mechanism of
synaptic transmission and development, he became an assistant professor at Roche Institute of
Molecular Biology. He joined NICHD, NIH in 1996 and is currently Chief of Section on Neural
Development and Plasticity. He also has a joint appointment with the Genes, Cognition and
Psychosis Program at the NIMH. In 2003, Dr. Lu received the Mathilde Solowey Award in the
Neurosciences for his research on the regulation of synaptic plasticity and learning and memory
by neurotrophic factors. |
| Research Interests |
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Dr. Bai Lu is interested in studying molecular mechanisms underlying various cognitive
brain functions. variety of cellular, molecular, imaging, electrophysiological and
behavior approaches are used. His laboratory was among the first to study the
functional role of neurotrophic factors in synaptic plasticity an learning and memory.
Over the years, Dr. Lu and his colleagues have discovered that the neurotrophin BDNF
facilitates hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), a cellular model for learning
and memory, and that the neurotrophins promote synapse development. Significant
findings in recent years include identification of a single nucleotide polymorphism
(SNP) in the pro-region of BDNF (proBDNF) that affects hippocampus-dependent
short-term memory and synaptic targeting and secretion of BDNF; activity-dependent
control of the trafficking and signaling of BDNF receptor TrkB; and the role of extracellular
cleavage of proBDNF by tPA/plasmin system in long-term hippocampal plasticity. Dr. Lu’s group
is currently investigating the mechanisms underlying neurotrophic regulation of synapses,
and their functional significance. Ongoing projects include: 1) study of the role of BDNF
in long-lasting hippocampal synaptic plasticity, using transgenic/knockout mice; 2)
biochemical and molecular study of activity-dependent modulation of BDNF and TrkB receptor
trafficking in hippocampal neurons; 3) molecular study of the signaling mechanisms for
acute and long-term neurotrophic regulation. Recently, Dr. Lu has launched a research
program to study the cell biology of genes involved in schizophrenia. |
| Representative Selected Recent Publications: |
- Fischer A, Sananbenesi F, Pang PT, Lu B, Tsai L-H:
Opposing roles of transient and prolonged expression of p25 in synaptic plasticity and hippocampus-dependent memory.
Neuron, 48: 825-838, 2005.(View PDF)
- Woo NH, Teng HK, Siao C-J, Chiaruttini C, Pang PT, Milner TA, Hempstead BL, Lu B:
Activation of p75NTR by ProBDNF facilitates hippocampal long-term depression.
Nature Neuroscience, 8: 1069-1077, 2005. (View PDF)
- Lou H, Kim SK, Zaitsev E, Sneil CR, Lu B, Loh YP:
Sorting and activity dependent secretion of BDNF requires an interaction with the sorting receptor Carboxypeptidase E.
Neuron, 45: 245-255, 2005. (View PDF)
- Pang PT, Teng HK, Woo N, Zaitsev E, Sakata K, Zhen S, Teng KK, Yung W-H, Hempstead BL, Lu B:
Cleavage of ProBDNF by the tPA/plasmin is essential for long-term hippocampal plasticity.
Science, 306: 487-491, 2004. (View PDF)
- Lu B:
Pro-region of neurotropins: role in synaptic modulation.
Neuron, 38: 735-738, 2003. (View PDF)
- Egan MF, Kojima M, Callicott JH, Goldberg TE, Kolachana BS, Zaistev E, Bertolino A, Gold B, Goldman D, Dean M, Lu B, Weinberger DR:
The BDNF val66met polymorphism affects activity-dependent secretion of BDNF and human memory and hippocampal function.
Cell, 112: 257-269, 2003. (View PDF)
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