University of California-Los Angeles · BiochemistrySocial Behavior Neurobiology Lab
Weizhe Hong · Los Angeles, California
Research Focus
Dr. Weizhe Hong's lab at UCLA focuses on understanding the neural circuits that govern social behaviors, particularly allogrooming, which is grooming directed towards another individual. This research is crucial because it aims to uncover the underlying mechanisms that influence social interactions, which can be disrupted in conditions like autism and schizophrenia. By analyzing specific brain areas like the medial preoptic area (MPOA), the lab seeks to understand how these circuits control social behaviors and their relevance to mental health.
neural circuitssocial behaviorallogroomingmental healthautismschizophrenianeuropsychiatric disordersneurobiologyMPOAaffiliative behaviors
Research Aims
3AIM 01Investigate whether allogrooming behavior is controlled by specific subpopulations of neurons in the MPOA.
AIM 02Explore how neural activity in MPOA neurons encodes social sensory cues and influences allogrooming behavior.
AIM 03Identify the downstream neural circuits mediating allogrooming behavior.
Skills the Lab Values
in vivo imagingneuronal manipulation techniquesbehavioral assaysneuroanatomydata analysismouse modelselectrophysiologygene expression analysisimmunohistochemistryoptogenetics
Output against the department
Publications54bottom 9% of dept.365th of 402
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations5.1kbottom 29% of dept.285th of 402
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.