Hailan Hu

Hu and her team study the neural circuit mechanisms driving depression in rodent models. They found in 2013 that the lateral habenula (LHb) circuits play a role in depression through neuronal adaptations associated with the enzyme BCamKII upregulation. Increases in BCamKII lead to increased excitatory synaptic transmission and action potential firing through increased expression of a specific subtype of glutamate receptors. Overall habenular hyperactivity was associated with depressive phenotypes.

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. Further, manipulating the synaptic strength in the mPFC led to upward or downward movement in the social hierarchy, suggesting that these neurons are fundamental in the neural processes governing social rank.

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. Her lab has been focusing on the neural mechanisms of social dominance in mice as well as the neural mechanisms of depression and the antidepressant effects of ketamine. Her lab has pioneered techniques with which to probe the neural correlates of social rank. In 2015, Hu was recruited to become a professor and senior investigator at the QuiShi Academy for Advanced Studies within the Medical School of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Hu also became the executive director at the Center for Neuroscience at Zhejiang University School of Medicine.

Following her PhD, Hu pursued her postdoctoral work under the mentorship of Julius Zhu and Roberto Malinow at the University of Virginia. In 2004, Hu moved to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and then to the University of California, San Diego in 2006, to continue working under the mentorship of Malinow. During her postdoc, Hu explored the role of AMPA receptor trafficking in emotional enhancement of memory formation as well as the role of Ras GTPase signalling in fragile X syndrome.

Hu then moved to the United States to work as a research technician for one year at the University of California, San Francisco. She then pursued her graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Under the mentorship of Corey S. Goodman, Hu explored the role of the plexin receptor and the Rho family GTPases in central nervous system development in Drosophila. Plexins are receptors involved in axon guidance, and Hu discovered a seven amino acid sequence in plexin, PlexB, which is necessary for Rac-GTP binding and subsequently axon guidance. Interestingly, PlexB inhibits Rac from binding downstream interactors while at the same time enhancing RhoA activity, altogether driving axon guidance. In further work, Hu found that CrossGAP, a GTPase-activating protein, is responsible for regulating Rac dependent-cytoskeletal changes during axon guidance in Drosophila. Hu completed her PhD in 2002.

Hu Hailan (Chinese: 胡海岚; pinyin: Hú Hǎilán; born 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.

Hu was born in Dongyang, Jinhua, Zhejiang province in 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.