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Kuo-Fen Lee
Professor
Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology
Kuo-Fen Lee, a professor in the Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, studies the genes and molecules that guide brain cell development. He has considerable expertise in producing mice to study the effects of specific genes on nervous system function. His lab focuses on how disruptions in development and maintenance of nerve cells and their supporting cells can contribute to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, neuroendocrine diseases, such as anxiety, and neuromuscular diseases.
Lee and his lab use gene "knock-out" technology to delete or alter the genes of mice models to observe the physiological effects. This may speed up by decades the discovery of how abnormalities occur in how brain cells communicate with each other. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop therapies to prevent brain cell death and treat disorders.
Education
- Plant Pathology, National Taiwan University
- M.S., Cancer Enzymology and Cell Differentiation, National Yang-Ming Medical College, Taiwan
- Ph.D., Endocrinology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
- Postdoctoral fellow, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Awards and Honors
- Pew Scholar, 1997-2001
- Society for Neuroscience
- American Society for Advancement of Science
Salk News Releases
- A possible mechanistic link between stress and the development of Alzheimer tangles, June 14, 2007
- Insulin: in need of some restraint?, March 7, 2007
- Developing nervous system sculpted by opposing chemical messengers, June 2, 2005
- Potential Link Found Between Breast Cancer Drug and Cardiac Failure, April 30, 2002
- Synapse Formation Triggered By Muscle, Salk Scientists Show, April 25, 2001
- Single Gene Deficiency Makes Mice "Neurotic", March 31, 2000